The Devil Can Wait
by ValkyrieDown
Summary: A behind the scenes story of the romance and kinship of Shepard and Garrus, elaborated through the events of ME3. They find support in each other with humor, fluff and some naughtiness to make it through the crises of war without losing sanity. Chap 13 - Shepard loses her temper, and Garrus finds a way to reel her back into reality. **Last two chapters edited for a better read
1. Chapter 1: Priority: Palaven

Author's note: Hello, dear readers! I've returned from a -deleted- long hiatus... to write a little about my favorite couple from my favorite series. I've played these games so many times it's sad, but as detailed and lovely as the dialogue became, especially towards the end- I was always left wanting more. The following chapters are my personal thoughts on the interactions "between the lines" or "behind the scenes" for Garrus and Shepard. You know, the stuff a video game company couldn't possibly have enough time to develop as deeply as I'd like. I'll stay as canon as possible, with the exception of some dialogue changes.

PS: It's been -deleted- years since I've written a story for others to read, so please be forgiving of improper... paragraph things. Also Bioware owns everything. Except my thoughts. Thank you.

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Priority: Palaven

A wave of relief overtook him when her voice came through the comm units. It was full of static interference and half the words didn't translate properly, but the message was clear to him... Shepard had come to Menae, and he was going to see her at least one more time before the end.

Of course, now that she: the Legend, the Hero and his greatest friend was here, perhaps there wouldn't have to be an end.

Garrus traced her location on his omnitool, and after taking down a few more reaper creatures with his rifle, started back to base camp. They had kept in touch as much as they could during her house arrest on Earth, and it had been an easy thing to maintain for the most part. When the reapers came, however, all communications ended when he was thrown in charge at the last minute to fight back an enemy they didn't understand. Hell, even having experience in dispensing Sovereign, just _one _of these monstrosities, couldn't prepare a whole army of trained reaper killers for the invasion of Palaven.

He approached the base camp, looking around at each of the makeshift duty stations set up in the small fortified valley. _There she is. _Her voice rang defiantly over the noises of war as she spoke to a turian general about finding a man named Victus. His heart soared when he saw her there, alive and in one beautiful piece. He stepped up behind her and cleared his throat. "I'm on it, Shepard."

The general, Corinthus he presumed, stood to attention and greeted him. Garrus pardoned him with a simple "at ease", keeping his sights trained on the smaller frame of the human woman on the platform. He watched her turn around and detected the hitch in her breath when her eyes met with his. He wanted to rush forward, pick her up and twirl her in the air for how happy he was, but quickly concluded this was neither the time or place, with turian generals and soldiers watching. He settled instead for taking her hand in both of his.

"Garrus... you're alive." Her voice was swimming with relief, and he smiled at her in his turian fashion. "I'm hard to kill. You should know that by now... Besides, couldn't let you have all the fun to yourself now, could I?" Shepard squeezed his hands affectionately, conveying all the things she wanted to say to him through her eyes. _I missed you. I'm so glad you're alive. We're together again, partners in crime. _He slightly nodded in understanding, squeezing her hand in return. _We'll catch up later. Promise. _

They let go reluctantly and got down to business. Shepard made introductions with Vega, Garrus reacquainted with Liara, then exchanged information about the situation on Palaven and the importance of finding the next in line for succession of Primarch. They settled right back into their usual routine, as if almost seven months of distance had never happened.

Garrus put in his bid of trust for General Victus as the next Primarch, and after securing the defenses of the camp, they set off to retrieve him. He felt as if it were easier to breathe now that she was in his presence again. They were taking down enemies and guarding each others backs, fighting together with an ease and proficiency that made their movements look fluid and graceful; like a dance of violence and bloodshed. Garrus chortled at the thought and shook his head. _Terrible __allusion. __Everyone knows Shepard can't dance._

Shepard caught the sound. "What's so funny, Vakarian?" She raised an eyebrow at him while ducking behind a barrier.

"Nothing at all, just... glad to see you haven't forgotten how to shoot."

"Uh huh." She set her rifle on the barrier and rapidly squeezed the trigger, landing her shot in the middle of a creature's head. She ducked again and smiled brightly at him to emphasize the point. _Damn it's good to see that again._

The fighting didn't last long, and with some convincing the newly promoted Primarch was saying goodbye to his men. The sudden lack of action gave Garrus a moment's pause, and couldn't help but soak in the scenery around him. Reapers were everywhere, ships were blazing up the dark sky with constant gunfire, and Palaven... He looked up at the blazing planet and sighed heavily, letting the reality of the situation set in for the first time. And then he dropped his gaze to _her._

He thought back to the night they talked after he had been patched up from Cerberus's rocket ship on Omega. "If I'm walking into hell, I want someone I trust at my side." she had said. At that exact moment, Shepard caught his gaze and walked over to join him, leaning gently against his side. His heart skipped a beat.

"Well, Shepard... it seems as though hell finally found us." He looked down at her for a moment. "And I don't plan on being anywhere but by your side when it's time to pay the devil a personal visit."

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She had kissed him. Of all the things in the universe, especially with all the madness and chaos happening with the arrival of the Reapers, he couldn't stop thinking about the curiously strange, yet wonderful feeling of her lips. If he could blush, he would be right now, and he thanked the spirits that Shepard was no longer there to see. She would never let him hear the end of it.

Garrus and Primarch Victus had worked for hours coordinating all their mobile communcation links with Menae and Palaven. The turian army was still in a state of total shock and disarray, and helping them was only harder from a command post on a ship that was light years away and increasing. Only after they checked and re-checked everything did Garrus remove himself to set up his own unit in the privacy of the main battery. It was a welcoming distraction from the thoughts of home.

He settled in seamlessly, and busied himself with checking the statistics of the Normandy's main gun. _Not bad, for the human alliance... Still room for serious upgrades, though. Perfect. _He figured it would also be an easy place to find him should Shepard do her usual rounds of chatting with the crew. As much as he wanted to see her, he remained patient; he understood that she had a lot on her plate right now. She'd come to him when she was ready. _And then what? Will we still be- _

His thought was interrupted by the Primarch, hailing him on his omnitool. Garrus mindlessly looked over the gun system while listening to status updates from Victus and offering tactical advice. After an unmeasured amount of time he sensed a presence behind him, and smiled inwardly when he recognized the scent. He wrapped up the conversation with Victus and turned his attention to Shepard. He was pleased to see her here, vulnerable and soft without her armor, the woman he had grown fond of, the one he would gladly follow to the ends of the universe and back again. He was even more pleased to learn that her feelings for him were still strong, even though he had made a bumbling idiot of himself while trying to find out. He was confident in many things except words of affection, _especially_ for a species he knew little about, but as usual Shepard cooly eased his nerves and stopped him from stuttering over himself like a damn fool.

And this time, it was with a kiss.

He flustered in his turian form of blushing again just thinking about it, and glanced back at the door she had exited through. Shepard certainly had a way of leaving him in situations like this. He thought back on her countless (and sometimes torturous) visits on the Cerberus vessel, and silently vowed to make sure to return the favor.

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AN: Next chapter should be up within a week. Thanks for reading! -ValkyrieDown


	2. Chapter 2: Visit to the Citadel

Author's Note: Some introductory smuttiness here. Nothing too serious... yet.

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Mission: Citadel

Countless days had passed since leaving Palaven, and all front line news coming in through the feeds was bad. The turians were losing ground almost as fast as the humans on Earth were, and all the other council species were panicking over who was next. When the news vids weren't busy showing the destruction and devastation of the Reaper forces, Admiral Hackett was cramming more bad news down Shepard's throat. She sighed, leaning heavily on the console in the comm room after the admiral had dismissed himself. There seemed to be no retreat from this, no break, no time.

_No time. If I stopped working for just one moment, how many people would die? _She hung her head.

"Joker, set coordinates to the Citadel." She straightened up and pushed herself away, setting a brisk pace to the elevator. Joker replied with a "You bet.", and almost immediately the Normandy hummed to life. Shepard entered the elevator and punched the button a dozen times to the Crew deck. She stared at the ceiling until the door opened, then bee-lined to the main battery. She pressed the button to the door and resisted the urge to walk in impatient circles while waiting for the damn thing to open.

Garrus was standing at his console, talking to the Primarch. This was nothing new; she typcially found them either huddled together in the War Room or here, doing... well, this. She sat on the table next to his rifle and studied it's mods while waiting for them to finish. They were discussing what to do with the Krogan if- _when_- they arrive to help. _Just another miracle that rests on my shoulders. _She sighed heavily, warranting a glance from Garrus. She smiled softly with tired eyes.

"Sorry commander, maybe later." He said quietly under Victus's next statement, then directed an "Mmhm." to the Primarch. Didn't miss a beat.

Shepard felt a pang in her stomach and silently left the room. Between the Admiral and the Primarch, they had to consider themselves lucky if they could even wave at each other in passing. And when did he become formal again, calling her "commander"? She tried not to think of it much, no sense clouding her mind with silly worries over personal relationships in a time of war. There were much more pressing matters to focus on, like rescuing a female Krogan from a high security base on the Salarian home world, curing the genophage, securing an alliance with both the Turians and the Krogans, figuring out what the hell Cerberus is going to do next, find a way to win the Asari to their cause...

She had to do this. Even if the deepest, darkest corners of her mind told her it was impossible, she would _not_ let anyone see. They needed her to be a pillar of strength in this war, and to see a crack in the facade might cost her everything. Shepard took a deep breath and arranged her features appropriately, then continued to chat with various other members of her crew until the Citadel offered her a ride upon their arrival.

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Shepard felt like she had been walking around the Citadel for hours. _Rallying all these strangers to the war effort is a serious pain in my ass.. _Between resisting another punch to the face for her favorite reporter and convincing all the gang related scum that working for Aria T'Loak was good for their health, she was ready for a drink or five. She met with Ashley in Huerta Memorial, happily supported her promotion to SPECTRE, then moved on to the Docks for another myriad of assignments that needed her attention.

She also knew Garrus was there, and maybe now that he was away from the Normandy she'd finally be able to- but that thought went right out of her head when she found him busily coordinating efforts with turian survivors. _Damn it all. _She furrowed her eyebrows and focused her attention on the salarian that would be taking over for the Eclipse mercenaries for Aria.

Just as she was walking away from a successful deal, Garrus's hand found her shoulder. "Shepard. You sure are a welcome face down here."

She stopped and looked around at all the different species in the area. "You getting soft on me, Garrus? I figured you'd be right at home with people as spiky as you." She turned around to face him, smiling.

He laughed and cleared his throat. "I, uh.. guess there's at least one human out there I can make an exception for. She makes up for her appearance with a spiky attitude." He paused and glanced back at the AI hologram that looked curiously like Shepard in the corner he was previously occupying. He made a noise that Shepard didn't understand, then found herself being walked along with Garrus to a spot a little further away.

She twisted and tried to find what he had looked at. "What was that all ab-"

"Nothing, just wanted to get a little fresh air. Er, _fresher_... air... I should say.. Except the air really isn't fresh anywhere down here." He fidgeted.

Shepard put a hand on his shoulder, completely misunderstanding his behavior. "Are you okay? How are these men holding up?"

"Oh, the men?" He relaxed a little. "They're doing the best they can. There's more dead than injured, most get killed in action.. Reapers don't leave much in the line of casualties."

"I'm sorry, Garrus. Do what you can for them. Make them comfortable."

"I plan on it. A few of them are ready to get back into the fight.. but, we'll see. It sure beats laying around here, thinking about home, but we need them healthy in case there's no Palaven to go home to when this is over."

"We won't let that happen." Shepard stepped in a little closer to him, pausing for a moment to consider her words. "Any news about your family?"

He looked down and shook his head. "No, but I'm hopeful. I'm taking this as a 'no news is good news' kind of deal. It helps." He looked back up and gently touched her face, tracing her jaw line. "What about you? I'm starting to see some wear and tear."

Shepard closed her eyes and focused on his touch. "There's at least a hundred fun ways to respond to that statement.. but I won't lie, it's been rough."

Garrus's mandibles twitched very slightly. "Well, don't forget to come up for air. And not just because the rest of the galaxy needs you.." He leaned in and touched his forehead to hers. "..more importantly, because I need you." She looked into his fierce blue eyes and found all the hope and inspiration she sorely needed, like a ray of light in the darkness. Her burdens seemed to melt away, even if just for this moment. "Don't forget it."

He took her hands in his as he stepped backwards, preparing to rejoin his men. Shepard held on until he slipped away, smiled affectionately in his direction and turned to finish her missions.

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Tomorrow was a big day. They were en route to Sur'Kesh to handle a very delicate matter that could potentially topple the scales of this whole war to defeat. As tired as she was, she wasn't ready for sleep yet. She knew that as soon as she closed her eyes, the young boy would be waiting for her in the forest of ashes. She couldn't figure which was worse in her dreams: the voices of her fallen friends echoing in her memory, or the sad look on the boy's face when she failed to rescue him from the flames.

She stood in front of the giant starboard side Observatory window and looked out across the stars. It was a late hour on the Normandy, most of the crew had turned in long ago, and the lights were turned down low so she could see the glimmering of the stars all the more clearly. This was easily becoming her favorite space on the ship.. well, maybe second favorite.

The door opened, but Shepard was too exhausted and lost in her own thoughts to hear it. Only when she saw the reflection in the glass did she straighten herself a little. Strong hands caught her before she could turn around, and Garrus pulled her against him. She hugged his arms closer, leaning back into his chest. They silently gazed out into the vastness of space, watching as hundreds of orbs of light slowly flickered in and out of view.

Some moments later, Garrus spoke softly against her ear. "We should never forget to take a few moments like this, just for us, Shepard." She closed her eyes as the vibrations of his voice touched her skin, and squeezed his arms unintentionally. _That voice could shake mountains, I swear.. _Her thoughts started to go somewhere unclean.

Garrus hugged her tightly while nuzzling the side of his face against hers, then slowly dropped his mouth to the side of her neck. "You give me a reason to do more than just fight these damn monsters." She shuddered again at those sensational vibrations. "You give me a reason to live through it, too."

Shepard partially opened her eyes, her heart skipping a beat. She tried to put together a sum of words, some kind of poetic reciprocation.. But after a moment, she felt Garrus give what felt like the turian version of a kiss on her neck. She closed her eyes and shivered and smiled again, her mind quickly overtaken by those previous unclean thoughts.

"We should get some rest." He said quietly, with a bit of reluctance. "Tomorrow is a big step toward this galactic peace everyone keeps talking about. Besides, I need you at your best. We've got some.. unfinished business to attend to." He let the last sentence roll out through his lowest vocal harmonics, and reveled at the way Shepard's skin prickled under his touch. "Sleep... Shepard." He slowly let her go and backed out of the room.

Shepard nearly crumpled to the floor. She leaned on the glass and watched his reflection disappear. "Right.. 'cause I'm definitely going to be able to sleep, now."

Garrus smirked to himself on the walk back to his quarters. _It feels damn good to be on the giving end of the torture, this time._ He glanced down at the sudden buldge in the front of his trousers and sighed. _But it sure as hell isn't easier._

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AN: What was all that about with the Shepard VI, I wonder? Next chapter up within a week. Hope you enjoy! -ValkyrieDown


	3. Chapter 3: Tuchanka pt 1

Author's Note: Hello again, dear readers. Just a little translation note here: military bearing is a common term used to describe your personal demeanor, as in how you're standing, speaking, and presenting yourself. _Having _military bearing means you're looking and acting totally professional, while lacking it means you're probably going to piss off a superior officer/chief. It's a big damn deal. Not a difficult term to figure out on your own, but just in case... there it is. Thanks!

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Priority: Tuchanka

The last few days had been horrifically difficult. Before landing on Sur'Kesh, they had to make an emergency stop at Grissom Academy to save some biotic students and Jack, of all people. Wrex was none too pleased with the detour, but Shepard promised to bring him along to save the female, (though many advised this to be a terrible decision) so long as he kept his cool for a few more hours. The Academy students were successfully evacuated, and though Wrex gave several salarians a heart attack during the landing on Sur'Kesh, he behaved (for the most part) pretty well.

After a successful extraction, the female krogan took up residence in the Med Bay along with the unexpected yet very welcome company of Mordin Solus. Shepard was thrilled when her favorite doctor came along, but had no time to catch up with him thanks to the needs of her newest guests in the War Room. A lot was at stake, not to mention that the only way to secure the alliances she needed involved the words "cure" and "genophage", and not exclusively in that order. There wouldn't be a lot of fans in the galaxy for that plan.

She decided that taking care of the Primarch's problem was the better one to start with considering how close the Krogan DMZ was to their current location. She invited Mordin to join the ground team for old time's sake but he declined, to instead take care of "Eve", the clever name he provided for the female in his care.

"That's too bad, doc. I really miss the smell of you setting our enemies on fire." She told him with a smile.

Mordin sniffed. "Sounds like personal problem, Shepard. Might have cure for that.

"Hah, you've got a cure for everything, don't you?" She patted his shoulder as she turned to leave for the Shuttle Bay to suit up.

"Not everything." he replied, returning to his work. "Close, though."

Shepard waited in the shuttle for the rest of her squad, sitting in the back with her elbows on her knees. Liara and Garrus joined her shortly and the shuttle dropped from the Normandy toward the dusty brown expanse of Tuchanka. Garrus stood close enough that their legs were touching and looked down at her thoughtfully. "What's on your mind, Shepard?"

She peered up at the turian and asked pointedly, "Is the Primarch always this needy?"

Garrus couldn't help but laugh. "You have absolutely no idea."

"I guess not. I know he certainly demands a lot of your attention."

"_All _of my attention."

Shepard nodded in silence. Garrus nudged her knee affectionately with his. "You know he wouldn't ask you to go down there if he didn't have a damn good reason. It must be important, especially with all that's going on in the universe these days."

Shepard pursed her lips. "You're right. I'm just a little agitated that he didn't share much information about what we're doing down here. I do _not _like being in the dark."

"You're right about that. I'd personally like to know exactly why turian soldiers are on a krogan planet."

"You're about to find out everything you need to know, guys." Steve Cortez shouted from the pilot's seat of the shuttle. "We're here."

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Several hours later, a bruised, angry and very tired commander Shepard was leaving the War Room. If there was one thing she hated about this job, it was delivering news of the death of a loved one, and she had just told the Primarch that his son had given his life to prevent the bomb on the krogan planet from going off. It'll be a long time before she'll forget the look in Victus's eyes. She gave the old turian credit for keeping his military bearing, but it was as if a light on the inside had extinguished forever.

_Just another person to add to the ashes of my dreams. _

Garrus had offered to deliver the news so she wouldn't have to, but as the commanding officer on her ship, she felt it was her duty to do so. She also had a few choice words to deliver about trust and disclosure of information, but it was too late to matter anymore.

Shepard stopped by the galaxy map and selected the coordinates to the Attican Traverse to solve Wrex's problem next, then set her own coordinates to the Main Battery on the deck below. When the door opened, she was surprised and disappointed to see that Garrus wasn't there. She searched the other places he could typically be found, but after no luck in finding him figured he was probably busy with his own circumstances and opted to go to her own room.

As the elevator escalated to her cabin, she began to feel heavier with weariness from the last few missions. _Good. _She pondered that if she worked herself to the point of exhaustion, maybe she'd sleep so deeply the dreams wouldn't come.

Shepard stepped out as the doors opened and nearly startled herself to death when she unexpectedly saw Garrus leaning against her door, waiting. He straightened himself and looked around in a nervous fashion. "Shepard, I.. figured you'd come by eventually. I didn't want to just invite myself into your room. Figured it would be rude. But... well, I wanted to see you. And make sure you were okay, after what happened."

Shepard smiled sweetly and walked closer, placing a hand on his chest and a kiss on his cheek, while pressing the button to her door with her other hand. "Garrus, you're invited to come up here whenever you'd like, with or without me." She continued into the room, turned the lights on and fed the various fish in her giant tank.

Garrus followed in tentatively, looking around. "Holy crap, you've gotten more." He said as he observed the fish tank.

Shepard smiled sheepishly. "I can't help it, every time I go to the Citadel and see a new species I just have to buy it."

Garrus grinned, flaring his mandibles and spreading his arms. "Commander Shepard: Savior of the Citadel, Hero of the Galaxy... Hoarder of Fish."

She smiled and laughed, and he watched as the stress faded from her features just a little. Exactly what he wanted.

"Okay Vakarian, did you come up here to make fun of your commanding officer or did you actually need something?" She stood directly in front of him and crossed her arms.

He reached out and pulled her into an embrace. He felt her body relax, her head laying heavily against his shoulder. "You're working yourself to the bone. Everyone's throwing their problems at you, and you've been shouldering it all on your own.."

Shepard wrapped her arms around him and squeezed gently. "Not all on my own."

Garrus smiled and breathed her scent in deeply. "You're right. We're in this together, I hope you know that I'll gladly shoulder some of these burdens with you." He was thinking about her denying him the opportunity to talk to Victus about his son. He knew she did it for a noble reason but damn, it hurt to watch her take such personal responsibility for those things. Sure, it's what made her unique and _beautiful_, but it was starting to become too much and he didn't want her withering away.

They stood for a moment in silence. Shepard was thinking about something she could share with him, particularly the dreams she'd been having lately when he pulled her closer to his body. He could feel the pulsing of her heart, her soft breath against his skin and her hair lightly brushing against his face. He glanced at the fish tank and remembered their first time together, here in this room. It wasn't the awful, deeply shameful interspecies awkwardness he thought it would be. Sex with a human was different.. but he had enjoyed it. Especially because it was _her._

Shepard leaned back a bit and kissed his chin softly. Then kissed his mandibles, left and right, with a delicacy that drove him wild. She kissed his nose and before she knew it he was picking her up off her feet and carrying her over to the couch across the room from the fish tank. He sat in the corner piece and held her on his lap, her legs on either side of his thighs. They grasped at each other with increasing intensity, kissing passionately while drinking in each others heat.

Garrus's senses were nearly overloading with the touch of her incredibly soft lips. She was soft everywhere, and the way she felt against his body with her thighs against his, her hands running up his shoulders to the back of his neck and under his crest, was pushing him to the brink. He started making small noises in the deepest tones from his throat, and Shepard responded very favorably, grasping tighter and pushing her hips against his.

Garrus shifted their weight sideways to lay her down, holding himself carefully over her while daring to let his tongue reach out to hers. She accepted delightedly and slid her arms around is neck, pulling him down closer. They devoured each other with touches and kisses for an amount of time neither of them kept track of, but eventually Garrus propped himself on his elbows above Shepard and looked into her eyes. She was breathing heavily and he could hear her heart beating wildly in her chest. She smiled affectionately and reached up to caress his face with her fingertips.

They both knew they couldn't continue, at least not tonight. Garrus kissed her palm, then leaned down to touch his forehead to hers. She studied his eyes and spoke, just barely above a whisper. "All this tension lately, it's really building up a lot of that steam." She smiled and bit her lip when he hummed, the vibrations sending chills up her spine.

"Don't I know it." His eybrow plates furrowed fretfully for a moment. "It's not that I don't want it to, it's just-"

Shepard quieted him with a kiss and touched his face tenderly. "It's okay, Garrus. I know. You're just driving me crazy in the meantime."

He softly nipped her nose. "I wouldn't know anything about what that's like."

Shepard laughed quietly and pushed him up. "Uh huh."

They re-situated themselves back into the corner of the couch with Shepard tucked into the crook of his shoulder, the rest of her body laid out across the cushions. She rested her head against his chest and closed her eyes as he gently ran his talons through her hair.

"For what it's worth, I'm glad you came Garrus."

He stifled a laugh and cleared his throat. "We didn't get quite that far tonight. Next time, though, it's a promise."

Shepard smacked his thigh playfully and laughed. "You know what I meant."

"Uh huh" he teased with her own typical response. Then he hugged her tighter, breathing in deep to memorize her scent and the feeling of her in his arms. She held tight and closed her eyes, the weight of her body growing steadily as she started to drift off into a comfortable sleep. Garrus traced the tip of his talon lightly up and down her arm, watching her relax in a way very few people have seen.

_We better make it through this thing, Shepard. I'm not willing to lose what we have, and there's still a whole lifetime left to experience it. _

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Shepard stretched and adjusted her weight, and felt immediately like she was in an unusual place. She opened her eyes into the dim light of her cabin and found herself on the couch. _Oh yeah, Garrus..._   


But he wasn't there. She hadn't meant to fall asleep on him, especially since their time together was always so limited. She sat up and pushed her hair out of her face as the fogginess of sleep faded away. She smiled as she noticed that the blanket from her bed had been draped over her. The lights were also turned almost all the way down, probably to keep her from waking up. She stretched again and looked toward her bed. _I could try to go back to sleep... but... _She honestly didn't feel tired. She sat there for a while, thinking back on the day's events, and Garrus's visit. She smiled again and lingered on the memory of his touch, and how close they had been to finally consummating their reunion. She thought of his voice, his smell, his words... _Yep, definitely not going back to sleep. Not yet, anyway. _There was something she wanted to take care of first.

With a yawn and a stretch, she smoothed out her hair and rose from the couch, heading for the elevator. A blinking green light on her private terminal caught her attention, so she took a moment to check her messages. Her inbox had a message from one Garrus Vakarian. She clicked on it: "Shepard- sorry I had to leave you the way I did. The Primarch just couldn't wait to discuss some tactical situations, and I couldn't bring myself to wake you. Hope you sleep well, and I'm sure we'll pick up where we left off soon enough. Garrus." She kissed her fingers and touched them to the screen with a smile.

Shepard closed the message window and stepped into the elevator, pressing the button for the Crew Deck. The Normandy was quiet and dimly lit with the standard night-time red lighting, designating "Lights out". She made her way to the Med Bay, where she was completely unsurprised to see Mordin still awake and bent over a lab table.

Without turning away from his work, he said, "Shepard. Didn't expect company. Thought you would be sleeping."

"I managed a couple of hours. Rest has been hard to come by these days."

"I see. Stress levels very high-"

Before he could continue on with a lengthy explanation of reasons for high stress and their effects on the human body (as he was very apt to do) Shepard quickly but politely interjected with "That's... why I'm here."

Mordin stopped a moment and looked at her. She continued, "Remember before we went through the Omega 4 relay, when... you had some medical advice for 'relieving tension'? It came with some supplies that turned out to be pretty useful.." She could feel her cheeks heat up a little. She trusted Mordin with her life, but it didn't make a personal conversation like this any easier.

Mordin sniffed, the way he always did, but Shepard missed that it had anything to do with her. He detected Garrus's scent and smiled.

"Immuno-boosters. Of course. Have some here. In fact, worked on slow release treatment. Long term effects. May even work permanently once absorbed by bloodstream for prolonged period. Hardly any side effects."

"I don't even want to know how or why you came up with that."

"Probably for the best."

"So, this means that with time I can... enjoy the company of Garrus without having unpleasant side effects?"

"Correct. Will only need a few doses. Permanent if taken properly." He leaned down into a storage locker under the table and grabbed a small box. "Makes your antibodies think turian fluids are harmless. Lowers histamine protein creation. No sickness or shock."

Shepard took the box. "Thank you, Mordin. This means alot."

"You're welcome, Shepard." He smiled. "Spending time doing helpful work, now. Will send you memo with correct usage."

"You really do have a cure for everything."

Mordin nodded in thought. "Perhaps I do."

Shepard nudged him playfully with her shoulder before exiting. She made her way to the cabin, tossed the box on her nightstand, undressed and climbed into bed. She didn't even want to look at the time, feeling it was better to not know how much sleep she wouldn't be getting before tomorrow's mission. _Krogans missing outside of a Rachni __relay__. There's a thought that should lull me right to sleep. _She sighed deeply and put the thought right out, replacing it instead with the lovely blue eyes of Garrus Vakarian.

"Hmmm..." She rolled over and opened the box, looking at the contents inside. Pills, topical ointment, a bottle of consumable liquid and a small bottle of lubricating liquid. She grinned. "You clever little pyjack." She tapped her omnitool, which was sitting on the nightstand, to see if Mordin's memo had come in yet. _There it is. _She read it over and took the assorted items as directed, then got comfortable and closed her eyes. _Alright sleep, let's do this._

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AN: Eh, I had a bunch of spare time, so got this chapter up faster than I expected. The next few are the chapters I've been really excited to write, which are some of the scenes I've always wanted to "fill-in-the-blanks" as far as Shepard and Garrus's relationship. Hope you guys enjoy! -ValkyrieDown


	4. Chapter 4: Tuchanka pt 2

Author's Note: Aww, I've gotten some reviews! Thank you kindly! I'm personally just happy to be getting these ideas out of my head, so if others can find enjoyment out them too, then I say hell yes, spread the love!

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Priority: Tuchanka

If there was any reason for Shepard to be afraid of the dark, it would definitely be due to Reaper-tech Rachni with bio canons in pitch black, underground caverns. Lucky for her sqaud mates, Shepard wasn't afraid of _anything_ (or so she'd had them believe). She was honestly just happy it was too dark for them to see her quiver at the sight of those damn things.

Garrus was pretty happy about the darkness too, though not just because he also wasn't a big fan of the "giant spiders" as he called them. It gave him a couple prime opportunities to goose Shepard one or three times where her armor wasn't so thick, unbeknownst to James. (Who had begged to come along because he'd never seen a Rachni before. He later confessed he could happily live the rest of his days without ever laying eyes on one again.) Shepard was between choking down giggles and whispering threats for Garrus's life if he didn't behave himself.

They pulled together as a team despite the creepy buggers they faced, and at the sad expense of Grunt's squad, helped the Rachni Queen escape captivity for a second time. During the shuttle ride back to their ship, they discussed the sanity of her decision. She explained understandingly that she just couldn't bring herself to send such a beautiful, intelligent creature to extinction.

"Beautiful, Shepard? You always attracted to creepy aliens?" James quipped, which earned him a sharp jab from Garrus's elbow. "Ow, hey! Watch it man, I bruise easy."

"I don't exactly agree with... _Vega's _wording," Garrus stepped on the name. "but are you sure it was a good idea to let her go, especially since she's already been 'soured' by the reapers?"

"I trust her. I don't know, I could just _feel _that she was free from their control and that she won't betray us. Plus, I can't handle another genocide on top of all the other species who are fighting for survival out there." She turned to James. "And yeah, without all that reaper tech, you have to admit their species is pretty elegant. Their language is music."

"Sure, sure, Mozart and AC/DC. Beautiful. Gotcha." James grinned.

Shepard rolled her eyes as the shuttle began docking on the Normandy. Edi's voice immediately sounded over the shuttle's comm: "Shepard, Mordin has news about his progress with Eve and would like to see you immediately."

"Thank you, Edi. Set coordinates and head back to Tuchanka as soon as the Docking Bay is secure."

"Aye aye, commander."

Shepard turned to her team in the shuttle and the huge pile of krogan taking up most of the space on the floor. Grunt had been completely passed out after coming out of the intense stages of blood rage he had endured to survive the tunnels. She patted his sticky shoulder. "Time to get you back home, buddy"

He twitched and mumbled something about fish. Garrus raised an eyebrow plate at her inquisitively, and she shrugged. "Guess who's not invited to my cabin any time soon?"

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Garrus was ready to have a heart attack. Several, in fact. He was providing heavy fire support against the Brutes while Shepard scurried around under the Reaper's massive legs to activate the Maw Hammers. _This is ludacris. _He was relying almost entirely on his visor to see the thermal signatures of his targets through all the dust and dirt being kicked up. The ground quaked furiously as the first Hammer crashed down, and all the creatures- himself included- lost balance momentarily from the shock wave.

"There's one Hammer!" He yelled. "Keep the creatures off Shepard until the next one is activated, then we get the _hell _out of here!"

One of the Brutes nearby sizzled with blue biotic light and fell heavily to the ground. "I'm doing the best I can!" Liara yelled over the noise, frustration in her voice. "I can barely see anything down here."

Just then, Shepard's form came through a billow of dust, rifle blazing at a Brute blocking her path. Garrus fixed his scope on the creature's head and rapidly pulled the trigger. Shepard rushed forward to the next Maw Hammer just as a turian fighter flew by to keep the Reaper's attention. A giant leg suddenly came down over her, and Garrus's heart stopped.

"Shepard!" He shouted while searching desperately through his visor for a sign of life, pulling up his scope for support if needed.

"I'm all right!" Her voice crackled through the comm line. "I'm about to activate this thing, get out of here, now!"

He hesitated.

"I'm right behind you Garrus, go, now!"

_Damnit. _He grabbed Liara's arm and started running back the direction they came from. The second Hammer fell, and the force nearly knocked them down as they ran. Garrus caught a glimpse of Kalros breaching through the ground, moving hastily toward the Reaper. When he felt they were far enough away, he stopped and turned to look for Shepard. Just then, the biggest Thresher Maw he'd ever seen exposed herself and flung her mass furiously at the Reaper, grasping hold of it with an angry cry.

Liara turned in time to see the spectacle. "By the _goddess._"

Garrus pulled up his scope to search for Shepard, his heart racing.

"Look, there!" Liara called out, pointing toward some elevated rubble close to where the giants were brawling. His eyes followed and saw the shape of the commander jumping and climbing away from the danger. He held his breath, knowing at any moment something could-

The Reaper twisted it's body and smashed Kalros against the Shroud structure.

"_Spirits!"_

The Thresher Maw retreated into the ground as the Reaper fired a seething red energy beam in her direction. The Reaper staggered away from the area where Shepard was last spotted, and in fact he saw her now standing atop a large toppled pillar to watch this otherworldly engagement. Kalros came flying out of the ground from an unexpected location and attached herself to the Reaper, coiling her massive body around it like a giant.. _What do the humans call them? Snakes? _In moments she started pulling it into the ground with a deafening roar, red electricity sparking upwards as the Reaper was crushed to death.

Shepard's voice was filled with awe as she spoke over the comm. "And that is why they call her the mother of all Thresher Maws." There was a long moment of silence as they all tried to soak in what they had just seen. Garrus felt as though his mandibles were on the ground, and managed to pick them up before Shepard spoke again. "Are you guys okay?"

Liara spoke. "Yes.. a little shaken, but we're in one piece. What about you, Shepard?"

"Yeah, I'm good." There was a long pause. "Guys... that was _awesome._"

Garrus let out a breath and hung his head. "Speak for yourself. I think you single-handedly aged me about 30 years."

"Aw, come on Garrus. When are you ever going to see a Thresher Maw _take down a Reaper _again? _In person? _And we're not just talking regular Thresher Maws, either. That was _the _Thresher Maw."

"There's something wrong with you." He replied flatly.

"Yeah, maybe."

"I think she's spending too much time with Joker." Added Liara.

Garrus chuckled. "I admit, it was pretty amazing seeing a Reaper get cut down to size. Er, crushed in this case. I guess I would have enjoyed it a little more if _you _weren't right in the heart of it all, Shepard."

"Aw, you really do care." There was a smile in her voice, and it made him feel better. "How could I pass up the best seat in the house?"

Liara laughed. "You really are indestructable, Shepard."

"I like to think so. Listen, I'm right at the foot of the Shroud facility now, I'm going to head in to see if Mordin has the cure uploaded yet. You two, get back to Wrex and make sure the Tomkah trucks are ready to bug out in case of trouble."

"You bet. Call us if you need anything." Garrus readied his rifle for the trip back to the trucks.

"Roger that. I'll see you guys in a few."

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Wrex looked up at the sky with unbridled joy as giant plumes of the cure filled the clouds. Small, soft flakes slowly drifted to the ground, bringing with them the promise of healing, starting anew- the promise of _life. _How ironic that it took a life to receive such a gift. Garrus had heard the whole thing over his omnitool. He wasn't sure if Shepard was aware the comm line was still open, or perhaps she just didn't know the situation would happen as it did and didn't care to turn it off. Either way, he knew she would be devastated.

He separated himself from everyone, waiting for her approach, and when she finally did emerge he was the first to see her. Her eyes were red and her features distraught with grief. Garrus opened his arms and she walked into his embrace, where he held her head gently.

"Shepard, I... I'm sorry." He said in his softest tones.

She sniffed, trying so hard to keep it in. "I tried to stop him, Garrus. I didn't want him to-" Her voice caught in her throat, unable to continue without losing control. She couldn't do that yet. Not here, when there were people looking up to her for strength and control. The mission wasn't complete; grief would have to wait.

She unwillingly pulled herself away from Garrus and looked up into his eyes, all the sadness in the world swimming in her gaze. His heart ached for her, but the soldier in him knew that she would put on her military face with her military bearing and complete what she came her for without fail.

Shepard traced his mandible while holding his gaze, took a deep breath and- suddenly she was an entirely different person. Strong, fierce, unshakable.

She moved passed him and approached the krogans and Liara, nodding to them respectfully, "The genophage is over." then climbed into the Tomkah truck to start the journey back.

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After updating Admiral Hackett to the succes of their mission, Shepard joined Primarch Victus and Garrus in the War Room. The Primarch explained he'd fulfill his promise and would give Garrus regular updates on the turian/krogan war front. Shepard shook his hand as they each wished each other the best of luck in the coming months, and when Victus left she found herself in the sole company of Garrus. For the first time in hours, she let her composure go and slumped forward, total exhaustion pushing her body down.

She leaned on the rail ringing around the digital map of the Crucible, looking at nothing in particular when she felt his hand gently on her back.

"I'll take care of all the communications for the turian war effort, Shepard. After all that's happened today.. and Mordin.." He stopped, unable to find the right words to say without hurting her further. "You should get some rest."

She gritted her teeth and said a little more harshly than she meant, "I'll sleep when I'm dead."

"Shepard, I-" He sighed deeply and looked down. "Look, we both know you need a clear head to win this war. If you keep pushing yourself through mission after mission without sleep, you're going to screw up and end up doing _just _that. And I'm not willing to let that happen. Shepard, please."

She hung her head in thought, then looked up at him. "Yeah, okay. You're right." She turned to face him. "I'm sorry Garrus. I've got a lot on my mind right now." She looked at him. He studied her gaze, and detected a slight decline in her heart rate and deepening of her breathing, as if she were concentrating on keeping control. Her eyes glistened when she reached forward to hook her fingers over the front of his cowl, pulling herself closer.

"Garrus, I.." Her features looked fretful. "Would you stay with me tonight? Please? I don't..."

He hugged her tightly, laying his head against hers. "Of course I will. Just let me wrap up a few things first and I'll come up for you, okay?"

She only closed her eyes and nodded, whispering "thank you."

Without another word she turned and left towards the Bridge. He leaned on the railing where Shepard had been just seconds before and looked at the digital blueprint of the Crucible, becoming lost in his thoughts.

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Garrus took a deep breath before opening the door to her cabin. He found her sitting calmly at the foot of her bed, the lights dim and the music off. She didn't look up until he was inches away, and when she did his heart sank for all the pain he felt for her.

Her cheeks were wet with tears and her eyes brimmed red, but otherwise she was absolutely gorgeous to him. His eyebrow plates furrowed with concern and as soon as Shepard saw his eyes, she broke down, dropping her face into her hands to sob deeply.

He reached down and pulled her into his embrace. "There, there... it's okay." He had no idea what else to say, and so translated his thoughts through touch. She pressed in close and continued to let the frustration and anger and sadness all out.

After a moment he moved them towards the bed, laying on his side while keeping her in his arms. She nuzzled in close with her face in his chest, her tears coming out silently now, and wrapped her arms around him tightly. He twined his legs with hers and gently pet her hair, trying his best to sooth her.

Many moments passed. "I'll be honest Shepard, I don't know what to say- or what to do. To help." He said softly.

She sniffled and kissed under his chin. "You're here. And that's exactly what I need."

"Hmm. Alright.. good." He pet her hair some more. "I'll miss him, too. He was a funny bastard."

She laughed quietly, fresh tears running down her cheeks. "Yes he was. As funny as he was brilliant."

"We'll honor him with every reaper we kill. Then build him a shrine."

Shepard smiled. "And surround it with seashells."

Garrus didn't quite understand that last part, but nodded and repeated her words softly. It wasn't long before she was asleep. He turned the lights off with his omnitool and settled his head above hers on the pillow.

Very gently he squeezed her, silently promising protection through the night, and closed his eyes while breathing in the scent of her hair. _Even with all this sadness and devastation and loss, __I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Just here, with you. __I wonder if that is what your people call Heaven. _He was soon asleep, and like Shepard, he was for once not haunted by dreams of the fallen.

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AN: Another quickly uploaded chapter. I'm trying to take advantage of all the chances I can get to put these things up; my line of work is not very generous with free time. On that note, Mordin. He was my second favorite playable character in this series, so when they decided to off him I was devastated. Also, Tuchanka's one-on-one with giant Reaper. I felt like Garrus in this chapter; running to the Maw Hammers and trying not to get crushed was a nightmare on the harder difficulties. I squealed like a girl several times when I saw the shadow on the ground and knew my doom as coming... So yeah, that. Hope you enjoy, dear readers! Next chapter up soon.


	5. Chapter 5: Priority: The Citadel

Author's Note: Some more military jargon: the 1MC is the general intercom used on a ship if one wants to make an announcement that everyone can hear. Or if you want someone's attention but you don't know where in the ship they are.

PS: Thanks again for the reviews! They make me feel nice.

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Priority: The Citadel

The crew of the Normandy spent the next couple of weeks running random recon and search missions wherever help was needed. Shepard felt strongly about boosting the morale of the galaxy by giving everyone as much hope as she could find. If a banner bolstered a certain turian platoon's pride and helped them gain some ground on their home world, she'd find it. Religious artifacts that would inspire civilians to rise above their troubles and provide fighters and healers for the troops, she'd make sure it was in their possession.

She'd scope out anyone with a keen mind and willing spirit to help on the Crucible project, and send as many resources to the cause as she could locate. When she wasn't helping a cause she was heckling Cerberus, taking out bases and sabotaging their leads. She was working ceaselessly around the clock, mission after mission, report after report- and Garrus suspected there was more to it than winning the war. She was trying to keep distracted, trying to keep so focused on the next job and the next rescue operation that she didn't have time to think about her world crumbling to the ground, or the colonies being snuffed out of existence, or the lives that were falling by the thousands every day.

The Primarch was no longer aboard and it seemed Admiral Hackett wasn't blowing up her comm unit multiple times a day for reports, but the pace never seemed to slow down. They certainly spent more time together, and though Garrus stayed with her almost nightly (on the rare occasion they actually took the night off,) the tone of their relationship had become considerably more professional. They still joked and played around, but it just wasn't as often or joyful.

On one of his visits to the Bridge to chat with Joker, the pilot actually took a moment to speak_ seriously, _something he was not exactly renowned to do. He asked Garrus to make sure she wouldn't kill herself by doing something stupid because she was pushing herself too hard.

"Believe me, I'm doing the best I can, Joker." He had said, resting a hand on the back of the pilot's chair. "Ever since Mordin died, she's been hellbent on helping everyone with everything, from finding lost siblings to lost kittens. She'll pull through.. just like before. We just have to be strong with her."

"If you're talking about Kaiden, then yeah you're right. But this is different. Back then we only had one bad guy and a handful of psycho mechs to deal with."

"By handful, you mean army?"

"Pshh, statistics. Whatever."

"I remember a reaper floating around then, too."

"ANYWAY, what I mean is Shepard has a shit ton more on her plate right now. Like a whole galaxy of shit. Imagine the biggest, steamiest, pile of shit... just sitting there on her plate. I'm doing what I can from the pilot's seat- When you're out there with her on the ground, just make sure she doesn't go all suicidal martyr on us, okay big guy?"

"Yeah, I hear you. I think she'll be wanting to head to the Citadel soon, and I plan to get her away from all the action for a while. Take a breather, ya know?"

Joker snickered. "Get away from the action to make some of your own, I get it."

"Wait- what?"

"Oh, what? I meant that... " He mumbled something unintelligible. Edi turned her head and looked at him silently for a moment, then looked forward again.

"What I mean is, I'm happy for you two. Gotta take the moments you can get with the ones you care about."

Garrus hummed. "Thanks, Joker. I didn't know you had it in you, you know- being such a softy and all."

"Yeah, well, maybe I've been seeing life from a different perspective lately. Nothing wrong with that." The corner of Edi's lips turned up where she otherwise remained motionless.

Garrus smiled in his turian way and clapped the pilot on the shoulder. "Nothing wrong at all. And don't worry, I won't go spreading it around." He turned to leave the Bridge.

"Yeah, thanks. After all, I have such a charming reputation to keep."

Garrus was grateful that there was such a wonderful crew aboard the Normandy. It was certainly nothing like a turian ship, which was operated high and tight – strict schedules, rules to abide, little to no room for friendly banter. Sure it made the turians more efficient, but the way the Normandy ran things everyone truly gave a damn about everybody. They bonded like family, and maybe it made him that much more of a bad turian to enjoy it like he did, but he was well past caring. If anything, the bond they all shared was the reason they'd won so many battles and they sure as hell would win more.

He passed Shepard at the Galaxy Map as she was wrapping up a conversation with Traynor. She joined him in stride to the elevator.

"Well, we're on our way to the Citadel."

Garrus perked, ready to share his plan to steal her away from everyone to have some private down time. _Real_ down time. "Excellent, so we should finally get some free time to relax and unwind."

The door closed and Shepard let out a breath, looking at the ceiling. "I wish that were the case. The salarian councilor contacted me a few moments ago about our favorite counsilor. Udina's up to no good and there's finally some hard evidence against him."

Garrus visibly slumped with disappointment. "You've got to be kidding me. Now of all times? What the hell is he up to?"

"I don't know, but the salarian wants me to meet him in person to discuss it. Apparently it's a matter of galactic security."

The door opened to the Crew Deck and they walked together to the Main Battery. "Damn. That bastard always rubbed me wrong, but I didn't think he was actually stupid enough to try something." Garrus stated, a stern look on his face.

"Maybe the reaper invasion is just the distraction he needed."

"Whatever the case, his timing sucks. It's always one problem after another."

Shepard grinned. "Yeah, but this is one problem I'm actually looking forward to taking care of. I was hoping you'd share the sentiment and join me in taking that creep down?" They had just entered his space, she then turned and jumped up to sit on the table where he usually kept his rifle.

"You bet I'm in. Just to see the look on his face when you of all people stroll in to bring him to justice." He stepped close and gave her a kiss, then hummed. "Sweet, sweet justice."

They remained in the Battery, talking and working on the gun together until they pulled up to the Citadel. All was well until Joker came in over the 1MC, asking Shepard to come to the Bridge right away. The Citadel wasn't responding to his hails, and he had a bad feeling. "On my way." They left the tools where they lay and hurried out.

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Udina was dead. Shepard wished she could be feeling better about having to shoot the man, even though he had pulled a gun and could have hurt or killed her, her team mates or the other councilors. In the end, her response was justified- but damn, she would much rather have seen Udina rot in prison for treason for the rest of his life. _Knowing that weasel, he probably would have found a way out. Maybe it's better this way._

Shepard had just finished welcoming Ashley aboard the Normandy, giving her a quick tour and introducing her to the crew, new and old. Ash fell in love with the Port Observatory with it's large window overlooking the stars. "And bookshelves, commander? I think I'll feel right at home here."

"Please do, SPECTRE Williams." Shepard replied with emphasis and a smile.

"Yeah, that's gonna take some time getting used to. The shelves are are a little bare.. I might have to do some shopping at the Citadel before we leave. I've still got the book you gave me in the hospital, but.. one little book could get lost in all this space."

"I'm way ahead of you, Ash. A big container has already been delivered to the Cargo Hold. Lot's of classic novels and collections of poetry-"

"Poetry? If you weren't my commanding officer and if you hadn't just pointed a gun at me earlier, I would totally hug you right now."

Shepard laughed. "You had one pointed on me too, remember? I think we're even."

"Yeah.. except you kept Udina from hurting anyone. And there I was, standing in your way."

"Not for long, you weren't. You did the right thing, Ash. Don't ever think anything different." Shepard smiled encouragingly.

Ash smiled. "Thanks, commander. We've taken very different paths over the last couple of years, you know. I'm glad yours didn't change you. It took me a while to realize it, but you're still the Shepard I remember from the beginning. I'm glad to see that, and.. I'm glad to be back."

Shepard smiled. "It's good to have you. Now we have two kick ass, human female SPECTRE's on one ship."

"Hell yeah we do!"

Shepard departed to tie up some final reports on the Cerberus attack, and dig up whatever she could about Kai Leng. The more she heard about this man, the more she wanted him dead- especially after what he did to Thane. She stopped in her tracks_. _She knew the drell didn't have much time left if he was even still alive, and she needed to check on him. She started for the Bridge and patched herself to the 1MC with her omnitool. "Attention all hands: This is commander Shepard. We're going to stay docked at the Citadel for the rest of the day, so if you'd like to resupply or get some fresh air, now is the time. Follow standard procedure in case of any trouble, but other than that report back no later than 2200. Shepard out."

As Shepard passed the Bridge to exit the forward docking bay, Edi stepped out and asked for her attention.

"Sure, what is it Edi?"

The humanoid AI held her slender arms behind her back, displaying an inquisitive posture. "I wanted to bring to your attention that Admiral Hackett just forwarded information of the utmost importance. There is a Doctor working on the Citadel who has been studying the Reapers, and believes he has found information detrimental to the war efforts."

Shepard crossed her arms. "That definitely sounds important. What have you got?"

"His name is Dr. Garret Bryson, and he has requested to meet you personally at your earliest opportunity. I will forward the coordinates to your navpoint."

"Thank you Edi, I'll get right on it." She walked out briskly to begin the one-hundred-and-one things she would need to accomplish before leaving later that evening, starting at the hospital with Thane.

Moments later Garrus left through the forward docking bay on his own mission: to scour the Citadel shops for a list of items. He was planning a date for Shepard that she would never forget.

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A/N: Eh, this is more of a filler chapter. Next one up is another story line I've been wanting to emphasize, so I'll probably be getting that up shortly. Remember the Shepard AI in the docks that Garrus seemed so nervous about? Hmmmm... Thanks for the views/reviews/considerations. -ValkyrieDown


	6. Chapter 6: Leviathan pt 1

Author's Note: This chapter is centered around the content in DLC: Leviathan, so if you haven't played it and don't want any spoilers... ye be warned.

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Mission: Despoina

The search for this "Leviathan" creature was long, arduous and required the help from many of her crew members. Shepard met with Dr. Bryson on the Citadel as he had requested, but thanks to his indoctrinated assistant, he was killed before they could get any valuable information from him. They were subject to rummaging through his lab and personal spaces to find and piece together much of the information on their own. Edi proved invaluable in this endeavor, correlating a vast amount of resources and data to help pinpoint the locations of valuable clues and eventually the planet where Leviathan was believed to be hiding.

Every place they visited was swarming with reaper creatures, so naturally nothing was easy. The Dig site they had dropped into to rescue and extract Dr. Bryson's daughter was especially dangerous, with buildings built into the side of a cliff that was being bombarded by harvesters with heavy fire. The whole place was falling apart, and with the ground practically dropping out beneath their feet several times, Garrus found a real sense of how important the life of himself and his teammates were.

Later that day, when they were leaving the doctor's lab on the Citadel for what he hoped was the final time, he retreated to his private place in the Main Battery. Putting himself to work at the console for the Normandy's guns, his mind constantly turned over the events of the day.

The sound of the door opening behind him was a welcome one, however he did not turn around to greet the commander as she walked in. She stepped up next to him and leaned her elbows on the edge of the console, watching Garrus's fingers type in calculations for optimized firing solutions at an alarmingly fast rate.

"Shepard," He began hesitantly. "I admit, I was worried about you during the rescue operation at that dig site. Things got... pretty hectic. Not used to feeling like that, you know. That's what love does- turns a guy like me into a nervous wreck with something to lose and the aim to make sure he doesn't." His voice lowered slightly into the deeper tones of his throat, and he turned his head to look her in the eyes. "Nobody better hurt you... is all I'm saying."

Shepard was at a complete loss for words. They kept eye contact as she moved closer to him, her heart welling over with emotion.

"Garrus... " She leaned into his side and laid her head on his shoulder while he laid his head against hers. In that moment she felt overwhelmingly guilty for drowning her entire existence into the war. She remembered all the times he had her back, which was a lot considering she always asked him to come with her on missions. But he was there for her because he cared.. _did he say love?... _not just because they were soldiers on the same ship, fighting for the same cause. She realized that she had been spending most of her time with him, yes; but she wasn't making their time _matter. _

Shepard straightened and turned to speak to him, to tell him she was sorry for being so distracted these past few weeks, sorry for not returning his affection as much as she could have, to tell him she lov-

"Commander, we've arrived at the coordinates for the planet Despoina. You might wanna get up here, there's something wrong with the probe's return signal." Joker's timing was impeccable, as always.

Shepard touched Garrus's face tenderly and kissed him, slow and soft. "We'll continue this later. I think we've earned some of that downtime you've been talking about.

Garrus touched her hand and smiled.

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Shepard selected Garrus and Liara to join her to the surface of what they discovered to be a planet made almost entirely of oceans. Joker was right, the return signal was coming back very faintly and highly distorted, as if someone were trying to block it or it was buried inside of something. Edi could detect no signs of life, but Shepard told them to keep their guard up just in case it was a trap.

They decided to drop the shuttle some distance away from Despoina so as not to draw any unwanted attention, and Cortez had no objections. He was happy to fly, and being that this would become a slightly longer ride it gave the small crew a chance to talk for a bit.

Liara leaned forward in her seat and looked at Garrus, raising an eyebrow. "So, Shepard, I couldn't help but notice you've been bringing a certain turian with you every time you leave the ship."

Shepard looked around in feigned confusion, then stopped her gaze on Garrus. "Oh, you mean him?" He looked at her innocently and pointed at himself in mock surprise.

Shepard shrugged and said in an overly casual voice, "Yeah, I just bring him along for his tech expertise. He helps me get through locked doors, and on the occasion he gets me into vending machines when I don't have enough change."

Garrus shook his head. "All lies. She keeps me around for morale, because _obviously _I'm such a good looking guy. She puts me on point most of the time so she can look at my..." He wiggled his eyebrow plates seductively, "...fine posterior."

Liara laughed while Shepard patted his knee. "It's a wonder you can make it through door frames anymore, with that big head of yours."

Garrus instantly thought of several inappropriate remarks to respond with, and when he saw the wicked smile on Shepard's face he knew she was on to him.

Liara cleared her throat and changed the subject. "Speaking of tech experts... I've thought about this a few times, but have either of you wondered about Vigil, back on Ilos? It's reported to have been destroyed, but would it be worth going back to see for ourselves? If we could fix it, imagine what information we might find about building the Crucible."

Garrus looked down thoughtfully. "I don't know, that sounds like a long shot, it would depend on just how much damage it took. But even then, Vigil was a VI and I'm not sure if it would even be salvageable. I personally don't have much experience on re-programming VI's."

Edi's voice unexpectedly came through over the shuttle's comm line. "That is not true, Garrus." She said cheerfully. "I have detected a copy of a Shepard VI purchased under the name 'Archangel' from the Citadel, about one week after the commander was incarcerated on Earth. It has been accessed a total of 147 times, which equates to lots of experience."

Garrus made a sequence of noises that made Shepard cross her arms and smile. She leaned in close and squinted her eyes at his face while Liara suppressed her laughter.

"I, uh.. Shepard... what are you doing?" he asked hesitantly.

"Nothing Garrus. I'm just 147% positive I can see your face plates brightening up. I believe we call that _blushing_."

His mandibles flared into a smile. "Please, Shepard, my skin lacks the pigmentation to even do such a thing. Stop dreaming. Besides, I was only trying to fix the damn thing to suit your more sparkling personality."

Liara interjected with a barely contained smile, "I suspect that is also not true.."

"Can it, Liara!" Garrus quipped, crossing his arms and looking away disdainfully. "There's no loyalty around here, I swear. You people are like a pack of vorcha, sometimes."

Shepard smiled and pushed her shoulder into him playfully. "Don't worry Garrus, I missed you too. If the alliance would have allowed me a virtual turian vigilante while in their confinement, you'd better believe I would have gotten my kicks off of it, too."

She grinned wide as he turned to look at her ruefully. His eyes betrayed something deeper, perhaps a challenge to take that statement somewhere private. He decided that moment would come soon enough, when the timing was more appropriate. As in, when they weren't on a small shuttle in front of their crew mates on their way to a potentially hostile planet.

Cortez's voice broke his reverie. "Shepard, we're getting close."

Liara stood in preparation, grabbing the handhold on the ceiling for support. "I wonder what we'll find down there."

"A Reaper killer, if Dr. Bryson's task force was right. Whatever it is, it doesn't look like it wants to be found." Garrus added.

Shepard stood and made her way to the small cockpit with Cortez to get a visual. "Well, it doesn't have much of a choice, now. We're here." She turned back around to face her squad mates.

Liara's brow knit with concern. "Yes, but what if it is in fact a reaper, is that the kind of help we can depend on?"

"I don't expect to make friends with it, whatever it is, but.. it has the reaper's attention, and they're _afraid _of it. We need its help."

"We've got a problem, Shepard." Cortez said with a sense of urgency.

She turned around again. "Let's hear it."

"The probe has picked up the Leviathan's location, but there's nothing but ocean down here. I'm picking up signals of large structures floating on the surface, but the probe is below them. _Way _below."

"Under water?"

"Yep." Cortez turned to her with a smile. "We should still be able to reach it though, this baby was designed to survive in just about any atmospheric condition. Looks like today is our lucky day to test that out."

"You mean, we can actually go underwater in this thing?" Her eyes widened. "How did I not know this earlier?"

Garrus shook his head. "Oh boy, here we go."

"No really, this is exc-" The Kodiac shook violently and began losing altitude fast. Everyone recovered their balance and grabbed hold of their surroundings.

"Status!" Shepard yelled over the beeping of shuttle's flight control board.

Cortez was working desperately to regain control. "Shit! Some kind of pulse hit us! Brace for impact, we're going down!"

He straightened the Kodiac out and managed to crash them flatly on one of the large structures, which turned out to be a massive oceanic ship. The crew slowly regained their bearings and exited the shuttle with weapons drawn, ready for trouble. Rain splattered down on the deck, and one look around told them they were in a floating graveyard- monstrous vessels were floating emptily on the rough ocean for as far as the eye could see.

"How's the shuttle, Cortez?" Shepard asked while checking their surroundings through her scope. It looked clear, so far.

"She's in rough shape. Whatever that pulse was, it fried our systems."

"What about the Normandy? Would Joker be able to retrieve us?" Asked Liara.

"No way, the same thing would happen to the Normandy, except the landing might not be so pretty." Cortez climbed back into the Kodiac to look over the flight console. "Even with Edi in control, that's too much of a risk. Whatever this Leviathan is, it has one hell of a defense system in place."

Garrus looked out over the side of the ship through his scope. "Well that would explain the massive amount of wreckage around here, and why no one knew about it." Just then, a faint sound rumbled in the clouds above them. "Something tells me that's not thunder." Garrus stated as he turned and put himself in a defensive position.

"Shit." Shepard took cover as a pod crashed violently down onto the deck, reaper creatures pouring out from it. Unfortunately, it was the first of many.

Liara peered up at the direction they had fallen from. "Look, there's a reaper up there! It's not coming any closer, for some reason."

Shepard and Garrus squinted up through the rain. "Must be Leviathan. They really are scared of it..." Shepard said quietly.

Garrus turned to look at her. "It's hard to imagine something that keeps even _them _at a distance."

Shepard took a moment to weigh the importance of this mission. They _needed _Leviathan on their side, no matter what it took. She took a deep breath and turned to Cortez. "Alright. How do we get down to the Leviathan?"

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Garrus was pacing ceaselessly on the deck, his mind racing with all the possible outcomes to expect when Shepard returned. _If _she returned. He shook his head. _Damnit, this is bad. _He kept circling back to the place where Shepard and her mech dove into the water. That was roughly ten minutes ago, and only five minutes since she last spoke through the comm line, but it felt like an eternity and he wasn't sure if he could keep himself from diving in after her.

After they had cleared the reaper creatures from the deck, Cortez had located a military grade diving mech on the vessel they landed on. It was deemed safe to use after he looked it over and established a comm link to it, and Shepard hastily jumped at the opportunity to take it down and find Leviathan. Alone. In unknown territory. _Under the damn water. _ Garrus had protested more than once, but she gently pressed that this was vital to not only their mission, but them getting off this planet alive.

Right as she was approaching the edge, he jumped into her path and put a hand on the front of her mech, worry plainly glistening in his eyes.. "Shepard.. please. Do you have to do this?"

She kissed her fingertips and placed it to the glass, smiling softly. "It's okay, Garrus. I'll be fine."

Garrus only looked at her silently, unable to think of anything to say. After a moment he looked down and stepped out of her way. Her heart broke into thousands of pieces at the sight of him, and when the mech crashed into the water, she closed her eyes and refused the tears that threatened to fall.

She was swallowed into the darkness, and out of his view. It wasn't long before he was walking back and forth in tight lines, trying to control the feeling of anguish in his gut. And so, here he was, watching rain drops fall into the vast, rolling ocean that had enveloped the woman he would die for.

Cortez received a few words from her about her status when she first jumped in, but the link didn't last for long. Either there was interference or she was going too deep, or maybe..

Garrus punched a few things into his omnitool to see if he could find her, and though it didn't help with her location it did pick up her voice. _Oh, thank the spirits. _While it wasn't a very clear transmission, it was enough to make him feel at least slightly better. "Shepard, can you hear me?"

"_...nt know...f yu...ear me. Doin...kay so far. I wi...ep in con...act as long...I can."_

_Damn_. More patches of information came through very sparsely. From what he could tell, she had landed on the ocean floor and was progressing to the location of the probe. An hour must have passed by since she left, and he was worried about how long she'd have before the oxygen in the mech depleted, not to mention if she'd have enough power to make it back.

"Garrus!" Liara's voice sounded alarmed. "We've got company!"

More pods of reaper creatures were falling to the deck. He growled with frustration and pulled out his rifle, quickly routing the link he had with Shepard to his earpiece so he could more easily keep track of her voice over the sudden noise. _Come on Shepard, I won't leave until you return. _

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Her vision was a haze. She had no idea how long she'd been under water or if she was even going to make it out again. Speaking to the Leviathan had been a tremendous undertaking. It's presence was awe inspiring and ancient, even more so than the Thorian. No, Leviathan was much, much older. It filled her mind and twisted it's way into her thoughts. It wanted to take control, to make her a _pawn, _but she fought with every fiber of her being. It sensed her will to not be conquered, and let her go.

There was a warm liquid dripping from her nose, and she touched it tentatively. Blood? Maybe they had taken control of her after all. It didn't matter now, it was over and it- _they; there was more than one_. They were going to help in the war.

She closed her eyes and thought of Garrus. She thought of the last words he had said to her when they were alone on the Normandy. "That's what love does- turns a guy like me into a nervous wreck with something to lose and the aim to make sure he doesn't."

_Garrus. You didn't lose me yet... I'm coming. _

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A/N: :0 -ValkyrieDown


	7. Chapter 7: Leviathan pt 2

Mission: Despoina

Garrus rolled behind another raised platform on the rain soaked deck, reloading his rifle for what felt like the 579th time. He, Liara and Cortez (who proved to be very useful with a gun) had whittled the creature's numbers down to a handful, yet the Reaper still loomed threateningly overhead.

"Something's changed," Cortez shouted as he took cover and checked his omnitool. "I think the commander did it.. I don't detect the pulse's signal anymore."

Garrus fired a few more rounds, putting the enemy forces down to two. "I haven't heard anything yet from Shepard. Is that mech going to do it's job and get her home, alive?" There was anger in his voice.

"It should. She's aware of how much power is needed to return to the surface."

_But she's also stubborn enough to take on a reaper-killer, one on one. What if they fought, and she can't get back? What if this Leviathan saw her coming and just crushed her on sight? Or ran out of time trying to convince it to help us in the war? I trust Shepard to keep herself alive, damnit, but I don't trust some _thing _that's been hiding itself for spirits know how long while millions around it die, when it knows full well it has the power to kill the reapers. _

"...ey, did you hear me?" Cortez was looking it him, drawing him out of his thoughts. "I'm gonna run back to the shuttle and see if I can get her airborne. Then I'll come back and pick you up, and see if we can't find Shepard."

Garrus's heart beat a little quicker, recalling their earlier conversation about the Kodiak being fitted for underwater travel. _We'll actually be able to do something instead of just sit here like floating targets. _"I've got your back. Go!"

Cortez slid over his barricade while Liara generated a temporary biotic barrier around him. Garrus gunned down the last two creatures with his rifle, and just as Cortez was out of view, another set of pods crashed down onto the deck.

"Brutes! Goddess, they just won't stop!" Liara yelled, throwing a biotic warp at the closest fiend.

"And neither will we!" Garrus set his rifle and popped a couple rounds off, only to find that he was out of thermal clips. He switched to his pistol and kept firing. The fight went on with both of them jumping and dodging the large creature's raging charges and swing attacks. After what felt like an eternity, something started to climb over the side of the vessel from the water.

The diving mech climbed to its feet as the front hatch slowly opened, Shepard's body falling heavily to the deck. She weakly tried to push herself up as the mech fell backwards into the vast ocean, catching the attention of the two brutes only several feet away. They started for her, and Garrus felt a wave of panic as Shepard only laid there instead of reaching for her sidearm. He opened fire as one of the large creatures readied to attack her, but suddenly the Brute stopped and twitched, grabbing it's head with what seemed to be confusion. As if under control from a higher power, it instead turned and attacked the other Brute, waging a violent brawl right over the commander's body.

Garrus darted forward and dodged the raging creatures as they roared and stomped at each other. He quickly scooped Shepard into his arms and carried her back, steadying himself as the Brutes rampaged and threw each other around, nearly knocking him over. "Cortez, Shepard is back. Talk to me!"

As if on cue, he flew overhead in the shuttle and dropped to a safe distance, opening the doors for pick up. "The pulse is offline, not sure for how long. We're good to go, but we need to hurry."

Garrus tenderly laid Shepard's body on the floor of the shuttle, checking her over for any inuries or signs of damage. Liara jumped in and drew her weapon to provide support while Garrus followed, pulling the door closed and yelling for Cortez to book it. They nearly fell to the floor with the force at which they left, but no one complained.

Garrus dropped to his knees at Shepard's side and looked over her again frantically. He scanned her with his omnitool, then touched her face. "Shepard.." He checked the return signals. "Damnit, she's freezing! Shepard, wake up. Please, wake up!"

Her still form suddenly shook with a fit of coughs and gasping. He helped her sit up and rubbed her arm gently as she regained her senses and caught her breath. "You okay?" He asked, concern written all over his features.

"Yeah... yeah." She rubbed her temple. "Hell of a headache."

"That's about another forty years off my life, Shepard. At this rate I'll be dead of a heart attack before we get to the next docking station." He leaned in close and looked her directly in the eyes. "_Never. _Do that again."

She grinned at him sheepishly, unsure of how to reply. He took her into his arms and leaned back against the wall, embracing her in a tight hug that silently explained how relieved he was that she was here, safe and unharmed. She tentatively slipped her arms around him and closed her eyes.

She spoke softly, "I really didn't see any alternative. With the shuttle grounded and knowing that there was something that could possibly help u-" She was interrupted with a turian kiss. Then Garrus shook his head and sighed, resting his forehead against hers.

"You don't have to explain anything, Shepard. I understand why you did it, I just..." He paused to choose his next words thoughtfully, and spoke quietly so only she could hear. "I don't want just one of us to ever have to go on alone. We do things together."

She touched his face with gentleness, tracing his features with her fingertips and smiled softly. After a moment of studying his eyes and seeing all the concern and worry he had endured over the last few hours, she nodded.

They soon realized they had an audience, and while clearing their throats separated themselves awkwardly. Shepard took a seat and Garrus stood, quickly getting on topic. "So, how did it go down there?"

"We found it. It's real, and a lot more than we imagined."

Cortez looked back from his pilot seat. "Was it worth almost dying for?"

"I don't know yet, but we proved that they can't hide anymore. They're a part of this war now, just like us."

Liara folded her hands together. "They? There were more than one?" Shepard nodded quietly, and Liara continued. "Well then, I just hope _they_ don't feel any resentment toward us for bringing them into focus."

Shepard looked away in thought, then shook her head slightly. "No. They've seen what we've accomplished so far, and how we delayed the Reaper invasion years ago. They're going to help us fight."

Liara smiled. "That's... excellent news, Shepard. I'm glad you made it back safely. We all are."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Shepard finished filing her reports, and instead of starting her usual social rounds, she opted to visit the Port Observatory. She was relieved to find no one else in the room, and dimmed the lights as she often did while spending alone time there. While gazing out across the stars, she literally drowned herself in the memory of seeing the massive form of what they had called Leviathan presenting itself to her. She recalled it's words, the pictures and faces it had placed in her mind, and mentally cataloged the history it had shared with her.

When she was done counting and recounting the experience, she turned a chair around to face the window and seated herself. She thought deeply about how quickly she had thrown herself into that diving mech on what might surely had been a suicide run. She grinned to herself, _not that I'm unfamiliar with those... _but this one was different. There had been no real plan of action, no team work; just her solely throwing herself into a dangerous situation on the fly. She reasoned and justified and even played her own devil's advocate, but in the end she knew she could never do that to her team again.

Upon her return to the Normandy, many had approached her to explain how relieved they were that she was okay. They proved to her that day how much she meant to them, and not just because she was their leader. She pondered this for some time, remaining in the Observatory for hours. _Maybe it's time to hit the Citadel again, and this time enjoy the scenery instead of chasing people down.__  
_

She left the room and made her way to the Galaxy Map after a short elevator ride. While she punched in the coordinates to the Citadel, Traynor let her know that there were several new messages wanting her attention. Shepard smiled and made genuine small talk with the girl for the first time in a while. They discussed the finer points of chess while Shepard opened her private terminal and perused through the list of unread messages.

She stopped and smiled at one in particular from a certain turian who, according to him, didn't have long to live thanks to his recent hike in stress levels. She clicked on it: "Shepard- I think it's time we finally took advantage of some downtime. We deserve it now more than ever, can't expect to win a war without a little R&R once in a while. I'll be hanging around C-sec near the shuttles. Stop by, if you're interested. -Garrus."

Perfect. She smiled and made her way down to the Crew Deck to chat with her people before docking. When the doors opened, she was surprised to see a handful of familiar faces standing around the kitchen area. They were laughing and sharing stories with the Prothean they had picked up along the way, who was finally starting to get along with the crew in his own, estranged way. Garrus was among them. She crossed her arms and bumped him affectionately with her shoulder, smiling a greeting. They were discussing the mechanics of having two eyes versus four, and she couldn't help but laugh at a few of the examples that were thrown out.

At some point, Garrus quieted and looked down at her while the others continued in oblivious conversation. She returned his gaze and smiled, sending his heart into a flutter. He leaned in closer, wishing he could feel her soft skin, but settled for inhaling her scent instead.

"I got your message, Romeo." She spoke softly, a sly smile tugging one side of her lips.

He hesitated. "I uh, don't know what that is. But.. good." His heart rate rose a little more at the thought of their future alone time. He wanted it to be special for her, but he was still so damn unsure of himself when it came to romantic outings that he wasn't sure if he could successfully pull it off. Yet after these last few missions, he wanted to make it happen, no matter how embarrassingly it might end.

She smiled and leaned gently into his side. "Down time. I'm looking forward to it."

He hummed deeply in response, forgetting Shepard's love for the sound. She leaned in a little closer. _Hmm. I'll have to file that little trick away for later._

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A/N: Here's a quick chapter; I've had a busy few days and wanted to get at least something up. Next chapter is another I've been excited to write, and it should be up much quicker this time. Thanks for your patience, and I hope you enjoy. -ValkyrieDown


	8. Chapter 8: Date Night

Author's Note: Beware the naughty bits.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Mission: Date

Garrus fidgeted as he attempted to lean casually against the rail surrounding the skycar lot. He couldn't keep his eyes away from elevator exit not far away, which was destroying his nerves because every human female that came out of it might have been _her_. And when she finally did come through those doors, he absently stood straighter with nervous joy, his mandibles twitching slightly as he smiled.

"Shepard, glad you stopped by." He dropped his voice to a lower octave, trying to sound like the human lady killer known as Danny Zuko, courtesy of Joker. "You ready to get out of here?"

Shepard stood closer than what was considered to be casual, smiling up at him with her fingers laced behind her back- a habit she had picked up from Edi. "I'm very ready. What do you have in mind?"

"Something that doesn't involve Reapers, filing reports or deep sea expeditions."

She laughed. "Fair enough. I don't think the bar has been conquered yet."

"Yeah, I scoped that out already." He gestured towards the skycar behind him. "But then I started thinking, if this were to be our last day alive.. and no offense Shepard, but with you that's entirely possible-"

She scrunched her face and playfully punched him in shoulder. He grinned, "If it were to be our last day though, I'd actually like to remember it." He led her to the skycar, punched in a code and opened the door for her in a gentlemanly fashion.

"True enough. So...?" She asked, taking a seat while he slid right in next her, starting up the engine.

"So, I had an idea." He left the parking area and settled into the traffic pattern that flew around the Presidium, keeping his eyes on the lookout for something in particular. Shepard asked where he was taking her. "Somewhere we're not supposed to go."

Her face brighened up. "Now you're talking."

"Ever have that one thing you always wanted to do before you died, Shepard?"

She looked at him with a coy smile and raised an eyebrow. "I've woken up next to a turian. More than once, in fact."

"Heh. Still trying to make me blush, huh?"

"To blush _again, _you mean. I know I succeeded the other day." Her smile widened.

"Riiiight. Keep telling yourself that."

"So what's your one thing?"

Garrus's expression displayed one of delight when he located the spot he was looking for, and pulled the skycar upward away from traffic. "Here." He said affirmatively, parking the vehicle out of sight on top of one of the walkways stretching over the central Presidium landscapes and lakes. He explained how he'd always wanted to break the rules to come up here, but never did on account of getting in trouble with C-Sec.

They exited the skycar and walked to the edge of the narrow roof to take in the view. Shepard smiled and closed her eyes, feeling the breeze on her face and the light on her skin. She knew it was all artificial, but it was easy to imagine that she were back on Earth. She opened her eyes again when she felt Garrus at her side, leaning into her gently.

She hooked her arm around his and laid her head on his shoulder, her voice full of nostalgia. "What an incredible view." He hummed in response and gazed around a moment longer. He was externally calm, and Shepard would have only guessed that he was just enjoying the scenery as well, but the truth of the matter was his head was spinning with how to proceed. He swallowed hard.

"I, uh.. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hoping this would inspire a certain... mood..."

"Something on your mind?" Shepard stepped away so she could see his face. She smiled up into his eyes, her own head swimming with the words she wanted to say. The past few weeks had felt like there was a wedge between them- sure, they spent ample amounts of time together and they had shared intimate words of trust and togetherness, however there was still some kind of disconnect. She wanted to repair that, to tell him she-

Garrus softly interrupted her thoughts. "I didn't want to hassle you about... us, over the past few weeks. I knew you had a lot going on, and.. wanted to give you time to really figure us out." He fidgeted slightly, but she didn't notice. "We've had our moments, but.. I want you to know that it's not just a 'thing'. At least, not to me. What I mean is.."

He had been struggling to speak up to this point, but the look in Shepard's eyes melted away all the insecurities and doubts he may have had until now. He steadied his posture and looked at her with calm affection, smiling slightly in his turian way. "Are you ready to be a one-turian kind of woman?"

Shepard stepped closer, her eyes misting over with feeling. "Garrus, the only thing that made leaving Earth bearable was knowing you were out there."

"I felt the same way. The worst part about the galaxy going to hell would've been never getting to see you again. We always have talked about going in together.."

Shepard smiled and stepped closer. "Well, here I am. Exactly where I want to be." She slid her hands up his chest, hooked her fingers over the front of his cowl and leaned into him. She didn't care about propriety anymore, and threw caution to the wind as her words slipped out before she could stop them.

"I love you, Garrus Vakarian."

His breath hitched and his already elevated heart skipped a beat. He wasn't prepared to hear that, which wasn't at all a bad thing, he just had no idea how to respond. All his recently acquired smoothness went right out the window as he blinked and made several noises while piecing together his next sentence.

"I uh, wow.. The vids Joker gave me never really went that far.. I mean, they certainly covered sleeping together, but this.. I really don't-"

Shepard's hands slid tenderly up to his face as she eased his nerves with a long, soft kiss. He leaned into it, grabbing her waist and humming a deep tone. She broke the kiss with a smile, "who needs vids when you've got me, right here?" She looked up into his eyes, finding a new confidence in them. They sparkled just before he held her tighter and leaned her back, kissing her again with more passion and feeling.

When he pulled her back up, she smiled widely and laughed with joy. "See? Now you're getting the hang of it."

He grinned in return and nodded, "Yeah, I've got some moves, believe it or not. The only problem is when my tongue gets in the way."

The look in her eyes turned wicked, and he quickly realized how bad that sounded. "You know what I mean." He suddenly felt as though the temperature was rising. "Is it.. getting warm up here?"

Shepard laughed again and shook her head, suddenly noticing something from the corner of her eye. She turned and noticed a small blanket laid out with a bucket of ice chilling a bottle of wine, a pair of wine glasses and assorted foods for the both of them. "Garrus! This is amazing! And is that my favorite kind of sushi? How did you know?"

Garrus flared his mandibles and turned his nose up in a mocked, overly-confident manner. "I notice things. You don't spend so much time with the woman you care about and don't learn a few things along the way."

He watched with glee as she sat on the blanket and took a bite, closing her eyes and making a noise that clearly meant it was delicious. "I'll have you know that everything here has been _expertly _paired with the wine to bring out the best flavors."

She looked up at him and brightly smiled, pausing for a moment to appreciate the scene. She reached out a hand to him, "Join me?"

He cleared his throat, "Actually Shepard, before we settle in I think we have a score to settle." He reached down and took her small hand into his, pulled her up to her feet and into his side in an embrace. She looked at him intriguingly, raising an eyebrow as he let her go and walked to the storage compartment of the skycar. "Oh yeah?" She said. "And what score is that, tough guy?"

He pulled out his sniper rifle and grinned at her. "I'm not saying you don't know how to use a gun, but some of us know how to make it dance. Let's see what you can do." He tossed her the rifle, and she caught it with a sly smile.

"You know, some people have seen what I can do with one of these. Those that weren't in the scope at the time seemed impressed."

Garrus laughed and pulled out a container of dummy targets. "Right, well.. I've seen you on the dance floor Shepard. The only ones on the ground after that sight are the ones who couldn't stop laughing."

Shepard made a face and racked the gun. "You're going down, Vakarian."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

They had taken turns throwing and shooting down targets over the Presidium for almost an hour, laughing and heckling each other the whole while. When Garrus pulled out the last target and declared it to be "the one" to decide eternal victor, Shepard smiled and missed on purpose. Garrus shouted and did a victory dance, claiming this spot as 'his favorite place on the Citadel' under his name. She shook her head with a laugh, then sighed while thinking, _Yep, the things you do for love._

They finally settled down next to each other on the blanket, pouring the wine while looking out over the pretty view.

"To us."

They drank and indulged in the food, teaching each other what each item was while feeding it to the other- Being careful of course not to mix the foods and end the date abruptly. They finished the first bottle and opened up a second as the conversation became bubblier by the glass.

When that bottle was nearly empty they laid out on their backs to look at the sky, both feeling equally tipsy. Shepard inched in as close as the could to him and pointed at the sky, her voice full of wine. "Look at that cloud.. er, fake thing.. that looks like a cloud."

"Yeah?"

"It.. well it looks like an elephant. A great... big... fluffy, fake elephant."

Garrus squinted. "Oh really? What's... what's an elephant?"

Shepard pointed again with greater enthusiasm. "That!"

"Oh. Earth creatures must be stranger than I imagined." His words drawled out longer than usual as he concentrated on sounding more sober than he felt. He gazed around and pointed at another shape in the sky. "Look! There."

Shepard gasped and "oooo'd" in amazement, then paused for a long moment. "...what is it?"

"THAT.. my dear Shepard, is a Shatha."

"Amaaazing." She said with wonder.

They spent enough time there pointing and laughing at all the things that were forming in the artificial clouds that it began to get dark for the Presidium's simulated dusk. They had also sobered up a bit more, and Shepard had _somehow _ended up on top of Garrus, smiling and tracing his jawline.

He ran his fingers through her hair. "You're so beautiful." The liquid courage made it easier to say, but he meant it. She leaned down and kissed him, lingering a bit while he breathed her in. Then she propped herself up a little and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, smiling wickedly.

"You know, now that I'm thinking about it there _is_ something I've always wanted to do." She looked over at the skycar and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

Garrus laughed. "What, you want to christen that thing? I don't know Shepard, it might be a bit small..."

Shepard leaned down and kissed him again, this time with more passion, taking his face in her hands. "No, silly. Not _in _the car..." She gently nibbled one of his mandibles, which drove him wild. He pulled her tightly against his body and hummed deeply. He thought for a moment, then smiled.

"Oh, I see." He stood and picked her up with him, and she wrapped her legs around his waist and held on tight as he walked her over to the hood of the skycar and laid her down tenderly. She pulled his hips into hers, keeping her legs tightly around him while has hands began to explore the soft curves of her body. They grinned at each other in the slightly dimmed light, sharing in the thrill that they were about to do something naughty in a forbidden place.

She kissed up his neck while he found the fastenings of her blouse, deftly undoing them one-by-one. He grinned and rumbled his throat in the way that drove her crazy from the inside out, and felt her squirm in response. "I've always wanted to come up here," He said through heated breaths, "But damn Shepard, you have a way of taking it to the next level." Her blouse was open and leaned back to take in the view of her soft, warm skin. He touched her tenderly, reveling in how foreign and beautiful if felt. She watched his gaze fall over her and after a moment, slid her hands up his chest, then down to the fastenings of his trousers.

He leaned back down and let out a warm breath along the skin of her neck as her fingers opened and tugged the front of trousers away when suddenly a harsh bright light filled the air, followed by the high pitch sound of feedback over an intercom.

"_You two! This is a restricted area, immediately step away from the vehicle and place your hands where I can see them!"_

Their hearts raced for a brand new reason as they scrambled to hold their clothes together and gain their bearing. "You've got to be kidding me." Garrus mumbled. Shepard squinted into the harsh light.

She looked at him and spoke so only he could hear. "There's only one car. Probably roving security."

"_Get your hands where I can see them, that's an order."_

He quickly glanced at their skycar and back at her, murmuring excitedly, "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

The corners of her lips turned up, and in perfect unison they turned and jumped into the skycar, still clutching their clothing to their bodies.

"_Hey! "_

Luckily they had already thrown everything into the car except for the blanket. Garrus paid no mind to it as he started up the vehicle, pulling away at a frightening speed. Shepard only fastened her blouse enough to keep it closed then hung on for dear life, giggling maniacally as Garrus twisted and turned the skycar in an attempt to lose their pursuer.

She caught him grinning more than once during the chase. "Hold on Shepard, we're gonna lose him right... _now!_" He yanked the vehicle up, pulling an inverted loop over one of the Presidium walkways, then fell into the traffic behind the officer that was chasing them. "Hah!" he laughed hardily as he slowed down to blend in with the other cars.

They watched as the spotlight illuminated around in a search pattern, but Garrus had turned to follow a line of traffic returning to the Normandy's docking bay. He eventually put the skycar down away from prying eyes so that they could fix themselves. Once parked, they looked at each other, grinning like wild cats.

"So, how's that for your first night out with your... boyfriend?" Garrus said with all the coolness in the galaxy.

Shepard smiled and climbed over onto his lap and kissed him. "Unforgettable. Fun. Best date ever." She smiled and paused a moment, then cleared her throat. "I wouldn't make it a point to have continuous run-ins with the law, however."

Garrus slid his hands up her back and kissed her collar bone. "It's good practice for them. Still, we should probably talk to Bailey about maybe getting this one for free, if we're even reported."

"Yeah, put that SPECTRE status to good use." She traced her fingers up the back of his neck, under his crest and he closed his eyes, visibly shivering with delight. "Hmm. It's too bad there's not much room in here." She said softly, biting her lower lip.

"Shepard, for you I'd _make _room." He sighed deeply and pushed the bulge in his trousers up against her. "Buuut I think we've reached our trouble limit for the day."

Shepard kissed his nose as he took the opportunity to cop a feel of her skin through her bra before she properly buttoned her blouse back up, then slid off his lap so he could fix himself as well.

"So..." Shepard started, looking around in feigned innocence. "I'd say let's take this to your place but there's a big gun in the way where you live... so how about we go to my cabin, where you can unleash your own.. big gun?"

Garrus gawked at her a moment, then took her hand and hurried them both out of the skycar and towards the Normandy docking bay. They were moving with such a purpose that Garrus nearly forgot something, warranting a sudden halt.

"Shepard, I... while we're here, maybe we should pick up some.. you know, supplies? For us?"

She smiled and stood on her toes to kiss him. "That won't be necessary. I.. well, Mordin created something to help us. I won't be needing immuno-boosters anymore, we can be as natural as the wind, with no repercussions."

His jaw nearly dropped. "That crazy, wonderful genius." He pulled her back into their journey towards the ship. "I think we should thank him properly."

Shepard laughed as they rushed past familiar faces and into the elevator of the Normandy. They began their passion play of kissing and touching each other as the doors closed, and when they opened again he picked her up and carried her to the bed.

"Edi, this is my official 'do not disturb' sign. If anyone needs me, it will have to wait til the morning." Shepard didn't hear the response, she was too focused on the moment.

That night, all their combined worries, tension, frustration, anger and pain melted away as they made love for the first time since she was taken from him to go to Earth. And when they were done, they lay in each others arms, breathless and content, until it was time to do it again, late into the night.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A/N: I've had to double back several times to edit my personal description of Shepard out; it's taken an effort to keep it neutral so that the reader may imagine her in the way that they created during their play through. It's been freakin' tough! Same goes for her name, as much as I want to use her first name throughout the story, I don't want to take away from the reader's personal experience. (Maybe I'm selfish, but every time someone describes femShep differently than mine, my brain yells "no! That's not what she looks like, damnit!") Anyway, more to come soon. Hope you enjoy. -ValkyrieDown


	9. Chapter 9: Priority: Geth Dreadnought

Priority: Geth Dreadnought

The atmosphere of the Normandy had become slightly more complacent after dealing with the Leviathan creatures. Shepard's more relaxed spirit had a profound affect on the crew as a whole; before long they were mingling more in the passageways and meeting each other in their personal spaces to chat or share a laugh. Shepard was both thrilled and touched to receive messages from her closest companions, requesting some personal time with her on the Citadel whenever the chance permitted itself. Unlike when she was working under Cerberus when they wanted her attention to help solve their personal dilemmas, now they just wanted share their appreciation of her company.

Though Garrus knew that the success and building momentum of their war efforts in uniting all the races was most likely the reason everyone was feeling more relaxed and friendly, he liked to think that he personally was responsible for Shepard's positive well-being.

After all, they'd been relieving each others tension now damn near every night since their date.

If their relationship was any bit of a secret before, the cat was certainly out of the bag now. Which for Garrus was a great relief, he was never really sure how he should act around her in front of the crew in fear of being unprofessional. It seemed like such a small rule to bend, one that could be easily overlooked... not that anyone even cared anymore, really. _And if making her smile and feel more at ease before a mission means kissing her on the shoulder or sitting a little too close on the shuttle, it's worth it. _

Garrus was making his way to the Bridge to talk to Joker about a private idea he wanted a "professional" opinion on when he saw Shepard by the Galaxy Map. She was hunched over the rail with her eyes shut, pinching the bridge of her nose as if trying to relieve a nasty headache. He stopped and approached her cautiously.

"Shepard. Everything all right?"

"Yeah. Well, no. I just met with the quarians a moment ago."

"Hmmm. Let me guess, they were more than happy to join the rest of us in our noble cause of saving the Galaxy. No prerequisites, no strings attached."

Shepard managed a laugh and turned to face him, leaning back on the rail. "If only that were _ever _the case... Buuuut no, that's not what they want."

"Talk to me."

"Those idiots managed to get themselves back into war against the geth. They want to retake their home world, Rannoch, and so far aren't faring so well."

Garrus released a breath of exasperation and shook his head. "Of course. Because now was the perfect time. It's not like there's already a war going on over the extermination of all sentient life as we know it."

"Well the _good_ news is, they're willing to commit their fleet- whatever's left of it- to our cause, if we help them."

Garrus put his arm around her shoulder and hugged her to his side, giving her a look of encouragement. "We'll get it done, Shepard. Just another hurdle to climb over. We're kind of experts at that, by now."

She laid her head against his shoulder. "The roadblock I can handle. It's talking to those insufferable admiral wind-bags that just makes me want to jump out the nearest airlock."

He didn't mean to laugh as hard as he did. "Yeah.. we're experts at dealing with them, too."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Garrus's rage was near boiling point. They had successfully shut down the Reaper signal within the Geth Dreadnought to give the quarians a chance to retreat to safety, yet they had decided to attack instead. Everything around them was falling apart as explosion after explosion violently shook the geth fortress. Shepard was yelling through her comm line with the Normandy to coordinate an extraction point and Tali was between pleading and yelling at the admirals to cease fire until they could get out. Garrus was ready to start yelling too, out of pure anger and spite, but had no one to direct it at for the moment.

"_Shepard-Commander. We have taken control of the docking protocols." _Legion's metallic vocals sounded over the comm link in Shepard's omnitool. _"Sending you coordinates to a specific location. We advise a quick pace to ensure survival."_

"Yeah, no shit, Legion." Shepard stated, but realized Legion was trying to help, so she added in a nicer tone, "Thank you, we're on our way."

Fire was erupting from every angle as they ran to the docking bay. It turned out to be a huge open room with several sprawling walkways connecting to hundreds of geth fighter ships. As they ran across the first walkway, a large explosion dislodged it's support structure, sending them tumbling with the falling floor to the walkway below.

"_Shepard-Commander. We can only launch from the upper levels."_

"Of course." Garrus mumbled. They located the nearest path that went up and ran for it. Pieces of the ship were falling around them as the quarians continued to fire all their heaviest payloads against the Dreadnought, proving to make the whole task of climbing that much more difficult.

"Legion..." Shepard called, waiting for an updated location, but there was no time to stop as the whole place began to crumble in on itself. They continued to run, trying to find the most stable beams and walkways to run across before they fell apart. They were so close to the upper levels-

Another explosion went off, this one powerful enough to disengage the gravity field in the room, and the three of them were suddenly floating helplessly in the air.

"_Legion!" _Shepard called out, a tiny bit of panic in her voice. He suddenly appeared as if on cue, calmly grabbed Garrus and Tali and pushed them toward the open compartment of the geth fighter they'd be leaving in. Shepard caught hold of something solid and regained her bearings, then pushed off to meet them. She was transmitting the final coordinates to Joker when Garrus grabbed her from the air and placed her sideways on his lap, closing the hatch behind her.

Legion seated itself in the small cockpit and began start-up of the fighter's systems. It glanced back at the three of them, tightly packed into the small space behind the pilot seat. "Does the storage compartment have adequate room, Shepard-Commander?" It's tone was almost chipper.

The face she made would have made Garrus laugh in other circumstances. "Yes. Legion. It's a regular first-class seat back here. Plenty of room to recline, _tons _of elbow space- which by the way, sorry for that, Tali." While she was sitting on Garrus's lap, her knees were jammed into Tali's thigh. And judging by the way the quarian was squirming, it didn't seem very comfortable.

"Shepard-Commander, geth flight vehicles lack the comfort amenities found on most organic vessels. That you find it to be such a pleasant seating arrangement is... unusual." Legion responded, matter-of-factly.

Shepard shook her head, but smiled just a little. She had missed Legion, specifically for moments like this.

Garrus took a deep breath and laid his head back, his crest stopped uncomfortably against the back wall. "Do they serve drinks on this first-class flight? I could go for about five right now." He said, mostly to Shepard. He absently placed his arms around her and stroked her arm with a talon, as he was used to doing when they were this close together.

Tali noticed this and nervously made it a point to look around at all the walls, fidgeting with her hands. "Peanuts! They serve those on traditional human flights, right? I've always wanted to try peanuts. Do they make dextro-friendly peanuts I wonder?"

Garrus was too focused on the woman in his arms to hear anything else. "You know, I may have to take your earlier advice and rearrange the roles a bit. And by that I mean certain wind-bags going into certain airlocks."

Shepard's eyes widened as she stared off in momentary thought. "No. We should feed them to Kalros."

Garrus nodded. "Good one. Or we could strand them on that volcano planet that's constantly spewing lava all over the place. Bet they wouldn't last long there."

Tali had stopped fidgeting and was staring at them, silently. They turned to look at her, suddenly sharing a pang of guilt as they realized what exactly they had been saying about the leaders of her people.

"I can't believe you two." She said with a defiant tone.

"Tali.." Shepard started, but was interrupted.

"No." She shook her head. "You're over thinking it. Holes."

"Er, what? ...holes?"

"Holes, Shepard. Lots of holes. Poke their suits in a bunch of different locations. The antibiotics will only help with minor suit ruptures, so if you fill it with enough holes, infection would flood their systems, and it would be completely unstoppable."

They gaped at her, unable to think of anything to say.

"What?" Tali continued, casually. "I deal with those bosh'tets all the time, you don't think I haven't thought of this before?"

Garrus finally let out a laugh. "It's good to have you back, Tali."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

When they had finally docked with the Normandy, Shepard almost had to bribe Tali and Garrus to let her handle the Quarian admirals on her own. She was upset enough, and would rather that _she _take the fall in case flaring tempers caused more trouble, not her team mates.

She openly and angrily spoke her mind about how reckless they had been about not only endangering her and her squad, but also their own civilian fleet who had little to no military training. After venting, she collected the next set of missions that needed to takes place in order to gain the quarian fleet. She spoke at length with Tali to make sure everything was ready, then set a course to find Garrus.

She suspected he would be in the Main Battery, a place they hadn't spent nearly as much time in recently, and was pleased to see him hunched over his rifle. As the doors closed, he picked her up by the waist and kissed her, something he was becoming quite talented at. She smiled and touched his face, kissing him again as he sat her down on the bench, next to his rifle.

"I was coming to check on you after that crazy mess on the geth ship, but I see you're doing just fine." She wrapped her legs around him and pulled him close, letting her arms rest on his shoulders.

"Taking a rocket to the face has a way of changing your perspective on things. Makes being on an exploding ship in a hostile space environment practically a walk in the park."

"Hah!"

"If anything, I just wish I could have been there to see you tear a new one into the admirals. I've always enjoyed watching you yell at people."

"I bet you wouldn't like it if I yelled at _you._" She smirked.

He hummed and leaned forward into her, looking her smugly in the eyes as she wrapped her arms around his neck to keep from falling backwards. "Go ahead Shepard, give me your best shot." His voice dropped several octaves, "Tell me what a _bad _turian I am."

Her skin prickled with the electricity of his words and her heart fluttered madly. "You..."

He nuzzled his face into her neck and drew out his words, purposefully letting his vocals vibrate across her skin. "Hmm, me?"

"You..." She squeezed him gently with her legs, pulling his body closer. He continued to torment her with all the little things that drove her wild, as he had been learning very astutely to do. She reached out to find the places where he enjoyed being touched, only to find... "You cheat. You're wearing your armor."

He smiled, his mandibles twitching with amusement. "Doesn't mean I'm not enjoying myself. I like to see you squirm, and I'm learning more and more that it's _very _easy to do."

She smiled and slid her fingers up his neck and to the back of his head to find his own weak spots, and reveled when he closed his eyes and stopped moving entirely. "Hmm, what's this?" She teased. "It seems you're not as indestructible as you think, my dear, sweet turian."

He smiled again and looked at her, his eyes gleaming. "No, I'm just letting you have a little fun, too."

She laughed and smacked him playfully. "Right. I know a few things that make your talons curl, Garrus Vakarian. And as much as I'd love to remind you, we have a quarian rescue operation to get ready for."

"Shepard... I would be honored to be reminded."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A/N: All right, we're finally starting the long weekend of Labor Day! This either means I'll have ample time to write lots, or zero time because I'll be out doing... things. Either way, it shouldn't be terribly long before the next Chapter is up. Enjoy. -ValkyrieDown


	10. Chapter 10: Priority: Rannoch

Author's Note: Thank you so much to those who have saved/faved/followed my story. You guys rock!

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Priority: Rannoch

Rescuing Admiral Koris from the war one the quarian home world was a success. Shepard and her team actually had a great deal of fun shooting at things that didn't bleed for once. Garrus and Tali had both mused at the feelings of nostalgia, the turian famously quoting that it was "just like old times."

"_Real_ good times." Tali had added, after disabling one of the AA guns and a cluster of geth. "I was just a naive girl on her pilgrimage back then, when the only thing we really had to worry about was one crazy turian and an army of pint sized mechanical soldiers."

"I remember some of those geth being more than 'pint sized', Tali. Those Primes made a point of storming directly at you and they were pretty big. _And _there was Sovereign."

"True, but that was just one reaper compared to what we're facing now. It was much easier to fathom a victory back then." Tali responded, pausing when necessary to speak between shotgun blasts.

"You have a point, but wait til after we get your world back, Tali. You'll be able to see how much the galaxy has pulled together so far to fight back, and we have a massive, secret weapon on our side." Shepard said while eyeing a distantly approaching geth through her sniper scope. One round was enough to put it down. "Damn, I love this gun!"

Garrus looked at her covetously. "When are you going to get me one of those Black Widows, Shepard?"

She responded with all the sweetness she could manage, "But.. Garrus, I thought you already knew how to make your gun dance? Poor little me needs better equipment to be anywhere near as good as you."

Garrus mumbled a few unintelligible things that didn't quite translate to her.

She shrugged it off. "Whatever you say, Mister 'I'm the best shot in the Galaxy.' You go over there and be jealous and I'll stay here with my super sweet gun and cover your ass."

For the rest of their mission, Shepard noticed that every geth she had focused on through her scope mysteriously died before she could pull the trigger. After the fifth instance, she looked around in frustration to find the culprit, but Tali was quite some distance away with her shotgun and Garrus had been working on disabling the second AA gun.

A sixth and a seventh were gunned down even though she attempted to rapid fire on them. She gritted her teeth and aimed at the eighth possible target, pulled the trigger but too late- it fell to the ground in a heap. The familiar racking sound of Garrus's sniper sounded behind her, followed by a smug comment.

"Looks like you're falling behind on the kill count, Shepard." He flared a smiled at her.

"How did... but... you were..." She looked up at the giant Anti Air gun and noticed it had stopped firing at the quarian ships.

He leaned his head to the side with an air of bloated ego. "What can I say, I have a knack for multitasking."

She smiled and shook her head. It felt good to have a team like hers, and she sure as hell didn't know what she'd do without them. If she wasn't convinced before, she knew now without a doubt that they were the reason she was still holding together in this war. The destruction of Earth was the fuel for her fire, and her crew was the oxygen that made it blaze with ferocity and determination.

And Garrus... well, he was a different kind of oxygen. The kind that brought fresh new life into withered, dying lungs. Even if he was a smug, pain in the ass sometimes. _Hmm, he's _my _smug, pain in the ass, though._

After all the Anti Air guns were disabled, they returned the quarian admiral safely to his station with the civillian fleet. Legion, who had stayed on the Normandy after the Dreadnought fiasco, brought to Shepard's attention that a geth fighter squadron was targeting important quarian ships, and it had a plan to stop them.

Shepard thought of a phrase she had heard recently from Captain Bailey. _It never rains, but pours. _This was certainly one of those moments, and it didn't help that everything felt so time critical. _Hmm, speaking of Bailey, I still need to talk to him... _

She lost herself in her thoughts as she tracked down the people she wanted to join her and told them to not get too comfortable as they'd be leaving for another important task fairly soon. Tali was busy with Admiral Raan in the War Room coordinating efforts, she she opted for the person she considered her closest and most treasured friend.

Liara and Garrus were gathering themselves in the shuttle as she and Legion joined in. Cortez departed from the ship as Legion immediately got down to brass tacks and debriefed them on what they were about to face. It explained that they would actually be entering the virtual interface of the geth consensus to disable the fighter squadron from within. The organics immediately felt uneasy at the idea, especially after what they had witnessed of the failed Project Overlord only a year or so prior. Legion explained they had made the necessary adjustments to make it a safe interface, and asked for their trust- which Shepard agreed to, regardless of the knot she felt in her stomach.

Legion air dropped from the shuttle to get a head start on the security protocols. By the time the rest of the team caught up, any geth that had been in the facility were already effectively dispatched and lying motionless on the floor. Shepard and her team approached cautiously, finding Legion tapping away at a console in front of several empty stasis pods- though not all were empty; some contained the large, unmoving forms of geth Primes.

"Shepard-Commander. The geth fighter squadron we seek is connected directly to this server. Due to limited resources, it is best if you connect alone."

Shepard felt that knot in her stomach tighten. She turned to look at the faces of Garrus and Liara and noticed that they shared the same concern. She took a deep breath, fighting the urge to say 'no'.

"Alright, Legion. If you think this will work."

Garrus grumped audibly behind her.

"Telemetry data predicts this operation has a high chance of success." Legion stated as it tapped a command to open a stasis pod door. It hissed open.

Shepard walked over to the visibly worried turian and touched his cheek tenderly. "Garrus, I'll be okay. We may not be going in together, but we're not getting separated either. You've got my back this time. If anything... funny.. happens- you pull me out, got it?"

He looked silently into her eyes for several moments, then nodded. He took her hand and slid it from his cheek to his mouth to kiss her palm. She smiled, then looked at Liara and exchanged a nod. "I'll be back soon."

Garrus tried not to fidget as the pod door closed over her. Liara took a deep breath, waiting for the commander to be out of ear shot as she whispered, "This is insane."

"Yeah, well, you know Shepard. If it's not batshit crazy, she's probably not involved." Garrus watched as the woman he cared the most for appeared to fall into a deep, restful sleep inside the pod.

"Never was a truer statement ever uttered." Liara crossed her arms.

Legion looked over at them from the console. "We assure you that Shepard-Commander will remain unharmed for the duration of this process. We have a direct link to her vital signs and cognitive patterns, which will be monitored continuously for any abnormalities."

Liara smiled. "Thank you, Legion."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Time seemed to pass slowly just standing around, but it wasn't long before Admiral Raan's voice came through Shepard's comm line to explain that the geth fighter squadron had stopped firing and were being driven back. Minutes later she started stirring inside he pod, and Legion sent the command to open it. She rubbed her head and stretched as she stepped out, then made a funny face as though something had become suddenly unpleasant.

Garrus approached and gave her a quick look over. "You okay?"

"Yeah. It tastes like metal in my mouth."

Legion looked over, the moving parts around its head flaring expressively. "That is a probable side effect of organic to synthetic interface."

"Yes. Awesome." Shepard frowned. "So, did it work?"

Edi patched herself through and confirmed the success of their efforts; the quarian Live ships were safe and the geth had withdrawn their attacks. By the time the team headed back to the Normandy, they had a grand number of geth Primes on their side. Legion revealed that once the reaper signal controlling their kind was destroyed, they would be able to safely join forces as allies.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Garrus watched with mixed parts of fear and fascination as Shepard ran and dodged the massive reaper's seething red energy beam while focusing the targeting laser at it's center eye. Legion had dropped them a safer distance away, but Garrus refused to let it take them too far in case the commander needed support.

Liara stood next to him as her blue biotic field fluctuating around her body, ready for action. "Maybe we should get closer-"

Garrus shook his head and placed a hand calmly on her arm. "Shepard's got this, Liara. If there's anything I've learned over the last few crazy missions, it's that she has a complete sense of what she's capable of. She wouldn't throw herself into something knowing there wasn't a really good chance of her being successful."

His eyes never left the commander. At that moment, she rolled out of the reaper beam's path, just narrowly escaping- which caused him to tense up and take a step forward. But Shepard stood right back up and defiantly focused her laser guide back to where it needed to be, and Garrus let out a deeply relieved breath.

Liara looked at him and smiled. "You were saying, Garrus?"

"What, it doesn't mean we can't worry."

Another barrage of orbital weapons strikes rained down upon the reaper for the third time, and it still wasn't going down. In fact, the reaper was inching it's way closer to Shepard's position, and at this point it seemed to be just several feet away from her.

"Oh, that's not good." He stepped forward and watched in horror as the reaper leaned in, it's eye open and priming up to fire just as a final strike from the Normandy and geth fleet struck down upon it. The reaper stumbled back and fell to the ground with a deafening roar, and at that moment Garrus swore he saw the commander raise her arm and... what did the humans call it? Flip it the _bird?_

He and Liara climbed back into the transport vehicle with Legion to rejoin Shepard. If he had know that this would be the last time he would ever see Legion again, he would have it given it a proper thank you and farewell.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

He didn't see Shepard privately again until the following day, as she had been incredibly busy working with Tali to coordinate alliance and quarian communications and preparations. She eventually came down to see him in the Main Battery where he was re-calibrating the Normandy's gun systems after they had expended multiple loads on the reaper. He smiled automatically as the doors opened behind him, Shepard's pleasant scent preceding her.

He turned to face her and crossed his arms. "It's official: we can now tack the title 'Peace maker' to your name, right after 'Hoarder of fish'. You got the quarians and the geth to play nice, and not too long after you did the same for the turians and the krogan."

She beamed at him and shrugged casually. "Yeah, I had a little help."

"You're well on your way to sainthood, by now."

"Think they'll give me a big shiny statue on the Citadel when this is all over?"

"Hah, they damn well better if they know what's good for them."

She leaned her hip against the console next to him, suppressing a laugh. "And if they don't?"

"They'll suffer the consequences of seeing what turian art looks like."

She couldn't hold the laugh in any longer. "Garrus, are you saying you'd personally make my statue?"

He nodded pointedly. "Yes. And I can promise you it won't be pretty. Which.. well. Wouldn't do you any justice.. not that any statue ever could, anyway."

She smiled and scooted over, closing the gap between them. "I'm flattered. And honestly a little curious... maybe someday I'll commission you to make that statue for me anyway."

It was his turn to laugh, and he gave her a playful nudge. "Then you're even crazier than I thought."

She nodded and pursed her lips in thought. "Speaking of which, I'm truly surprised you didn't march out onto the cliff face and drag me out of there yesterday. You know, facing a reaper up close and personal like that."

He turned his body to face her and leaned in to peer into her eyes. "Shepard, you may get my heart racing faster than the speed of light sometimes with worry, but I've been thinking. Sure, I worry like hell about you, but..." He placed his hands on her shoulders. "I trust you to know what you can handle, and you're certainly capable of holding your own. It kills me to let you do it, but I don't know anyone as fearless, courageous, strong willed and _stubborn _as you."

She smiled at that last one, and slid her hands up his chest, leaning into him. "Stubborn, yes. Probably crazy, as I've been hearing a lot of lately.. but fearless? No."

She closed her eyes and turned her head, laying against him. "I'm scared of a lot of things, Garrus. We've lost some good people in this fight, and I know there's a long ways to go. There's so much at stake, more than I could ever comprehend.. but above all, there's you. I would be completely lost if you ever..."

She trailed off, unable to say the words. He lay his cheek against her head and stroked her hair soothingly. "Hmm. A rocket couldn't bring me down, let alone three whole gangs of the galaxy's worst. Reapers don't stand a chance either, no matter what they throw at us. It's us to the end, Shepard, together."

"You've got my back, I've got yours."

"Exactly. And if we do go out in a blaze of glory, it will be _together. _And then they'll have to make two statues on the citadel, right next to each other."

"Hmm. Memorialized together... forever."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A/N: Thanks again for reading! Hope you all enjoy, as always. Next chapter up shortly. -ValkyrieDown


	11. Chapter 11: Omega

Author's note: Sooooooo I finally got some time to re-read over this story, and was absolutely appalled at how many typos and errors I left behind D: I think I had a mini panic session over each one. (the admiral was was? _What the fuck is was was? _It had been a long time sine she..? Sine? Like... like a sine wave? _There are no sine waves here, this isn't __a laser beam__! _Don't even get me started on when I called the shuttle the Zodiak _and _the Kodiak _in the same goddamn __paragraph__.) _So yeah, that's my life. Thank you all for dealing with such wretched abominations like my typos!In all my spazzing, I may have left more errors behind. In which case I have more spazzing to do.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Mission: Omega

Shepard was leaving the comm room after an update with both Admiral Hackett and Admiral Anderson. They were both putting up a heavy resistance against reaper forces, and for the moment were holding their ground thanks to all the help she had been sending them. It made her feel good to finally hear some news that wasn't entirely negative, and as she passed the floating digital blueprint of the Crucible project, she actually paused to look it over. Sure enough, it was coming to a near completion- all they needed help with was an unknown component called the "catalyst".

She decided that this would be a good time to visit the Citadel to give the crew a day or two of rest. They had been working around the clock after helping the quarians get out of trouble to fulfill an assortment of smaller scale missions, including collecting data and resources, and infiltrating a couple more Cerberus facilities to see if any pertinent information would turn up.

She found herself by the terminal next to the Galaxy Map, scrolling through the messages to figure out which one would get them in the right direction for this catalyst object. Traynor offered a couple of pointers and helped select their next destination when a new message came through from Admiral Anderson. It wasn't marked as important so Shepard decided to look it over in the comfort of her cabin, where she could also investigate some other things she had been meaning to look into.

It wasn't ten minutes after Shepard entered the elevator when Garrus came out, looking diligently at the floor while briskly making his way to the Bridge. Traynor watched him wordlessly as he disappeared, blinking at the odd behavior.

When Garrus was directly behind Joker's chair, he looked around nervously to see if the door behind them was closed, and to make sure no one else was within earshot.

"Hey, what's up Garrus! Don't tell me the turians already have another joke about me. Actually, do tell me. That would be awesome."

But Garrus didn't hear him. "Joker, I... I was hoping you might be able to help me out. With something kind of personal."

Joker turned his chair slowly toward Garrus, a look of part skepticism and worry on his face. "Do I really wanna know? If something is itchy you should really see Dr. Chakwas instead."

"No, it's nothing like that." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Well, you've been helping me out a lot lately with... human customs. It's been pretty.. well, helpful..."

"Hah! Yes!" Joker beamed.

"...and well, I wanted to know how to... take it up a notch. Get a little more interesting without going too far or getting.. awkward. I mean I've got some ideas that I'm sure will work, but I want advice on human practices that I may be overlooking."

Joker leaned back in the pilot's seat and cracked his knuckles, smiling ear to ear. "Well you've come to the right place my friend, they don't call me Doctor Love for nothing. I happen to have a fine assortment of vids that might help with your, _inspiration_."

Edi looked over at him questioningly. "I was not aware you had a doctorate in human affection, let alone cross-species interactions, sexual or otherwise."

"I am a mysterious man, Edi. There is still much to learn."

"Hmm. I'm sure." She returned her focus to her inner processes.

Joker tapped a few commands into his private terminal next to the flight controls. "Okay, check it out, these are big back home. I've got Pulp Friction, Indiana Bones: The Temple of Poon, hmm.. Analyze These, Frisky Business, Das Booty.. You might like that one, actually. Oh, here's a classic! Kama Sutra: The guide to-"

Garrus interrupted with an uncomfortable noise, "Joker, that's... that's okay. I don't need to hear your list of smut, just give me something useful, okay?" He shook his head, clearly embarrassed, and rubbed his temple. "Maybe this was a bad idea."

Joker grinned and compiled a few videos onto a portable drive. "Relax buddy, I'm just messing with you. Except for that last title, those are some advanced tactics in that one." He pulled out the small drive and handed it to the flustered turian, who hesitated before taking it. "Here. Just a couple of mild vids that'll demonstrate the human's more flexible abilities."

Garrus covered his face at the word joker chose, especially considering how much he and Shepard always used the terms 'reach and flexibility' affectionately between each other. "Thanks... Joker. I appreciate it, really... just... can we keep this between us?"

"Yeah, no worries. My lips are sealed."

Garrus nodded and turned to leave in a hurry, avoiding eye contact with everyone he passed on his way to the Main Battery. Once inside his personal space, he locked the door and took a deep breath, calming his nerves before inserting the portable drive into the vid console on the wall.

He looked around to make sure absolutely no one managed to sneak into the Battery, which was silly because that's never happened before- but one could never be too sure. Especially when one was about to engage in nefarious activities such as this. He pulled over a chair he'd taken from one of the Observatories and took a seat in front of the screen, started the vid and immediately hit the fast forward command.

He mused to himself quietly, "Hmm, it seems the humans and turians have at least that much in common: pointless banter between the real action. I never understoo- _oh my_..."

It didn't take long for him to find the good stuff. He tilted his head sideways a little, watching in awe at what was taking place on the screen. "It's always fascinated me how human legs bend, but... that is _amazing._"

He grinned and leaned back in his chair, getting comfortable. "Looks like I have a few tricks to learn after all."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Commander Shepard was beside herself with frustration. She had been sitting at the console in her cabin for the better part of an hour with absolutely no success at finding what she was looking for. She peered over at her door and sighed, unwilling to put too much thought into what she was about to do; but still she stood and allowed her feet to carry her to the elevator.

Her brow was furrowed and her eyes were serious as she walked across the CIC and to the Bridge. Stopping just outside the door, she looked at her feet and took another deep breath. _You can do this. You're Commander Shepard, an unstoppable force of nature. A power to be reckoned with. I'm a damn war hero with medals and commendations, a SPECTRE with a cause! This should be just like any other interrogation... except.. __wait,__ no. It's not an interrogation. He's my friend. _

Another deep breath.

_Okay, be nice to your friend. Just walk in there and ask for the information nicely and everything will be fine. No worries. Just be cool... be calm.._

Before another second could pass she pressed the button to the Cockpit and walked in rigidly, standing damn near at attention behind Joker with her fists clenched, and spoke with a clear, tight voice.

"Joker. I demand that you hand over any information you have on turian porn." She closed her eyes and slumped her shoulders slightly. _Okay, not exactly how I wanted that to come out._

Joker looked at Edi first, then turned around to face the commander with a look of confusion. "I'm sorry, what did you just say?"

"Uhhh... What I meant was, I was hoping you'd help me out... as a _friend.. _and maybe show me what you might have as far as turian mating customs." Her cheeks were practically on fire.

After a moment of silence, Joker tried to stifle a laugh. "You're... you're kidding me right Shepard? This is a joke!" He couldn't contain the laughter any more and let it roll. "Oooh good one, you really got me there, boss. Nice."

Shepard stared at him, unblinking.

He cleared is throat awkwardly. "Uh, right commander. Of course.. You've uh, come to the right place... They don't call me Doctor Love for nothing..."

Edi lowered her face into her palm and shook her head silently as Joker went back into his private collection and pulled out another portable drive, then paused and looked at Shepard. "Wait, what makes you think I have turian vids to begin with, anyway?"

Shepard crossed her arms and made a face. He held his arms up in defense, "Okay, you win. I'm actually surprised you even came to me about this instead of just, you know, looking it up in privacy, on your own. I'm sure the extranet is flooded with this golden goodness."

Shepard flustered. "Yeah, it's not for a lack of trying. Every link I found was riddled with viruses and malware that would eat right through my security protocols. Not exactly something I want to explain to the Alliance when my terminal blows up."

"That's why you need the Event Horizon Firewall system like I have set up here. _Nothing _gets through it, makes for the safest downloads and uploads of all the inter-species action you could ask for. It's beautiful." He pulled out the drive and handed it to the commander, then laughed, saying mostly to himself, "This is like deja vu or something."

"Excuse me?" She took the drive tentatively.

"What? Oh, nothing. I had to sneeze or something."

"Uh huh.

"Well there you go, commander. The files are all scrubbed and squeaky clean, so you don't have to worry about the chain of command asking you about the questionable things you're watching on your console."

"Thanks, Joker. That's why I came to you." She turned to walk out, slipping the portable drive into her pocket.

"Thanks... I think." He turned his chair back around and looked at Edi again with an expression of amusement.

"Is there anything in that collection of yours for me, Jeff?" She asked coyly.

"Edi, you've got more free access to all the vids in the galaxy than everybody on the Normandy combined."

"Yes. That is true." She smiled.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Much later that evening, the Normandy docked at the Citadel for the first time in weeks. Anderson had given Shepard free reign over his personal apartment by the Silversun Strip, a fun night life scene that reminded Shepard of the galactic version of Las Vegas on Earth. She was much looking forward to spending some time there with her crew and friends, but that would have to wait as there was important business to attend to first.

She tracked down a handful of various people around the Citadel to give them their requested items, then made her way to the aptly named Purgatory nightclub to see her second favorite asari.

Aria T'Loak looked up at Shepard from her toppled throne. "Well you sure took your sweet time getting here." Her voice was cool on the surface, but her eyes and the underlying tone of her words, as usual, betrayed her irritation.

Shepard smiled and crossed her arms. "Hell Aria, I've been a busy woman bringing the galaxy together to prevent our extinction. What's the matter, did you miss me?"

Aria scoffed openly and looked away. "Don't flatter yourself. I have information that may prove useful to you in your war." She returned her steady gaze back to Shepard, unsmiling. "But this isn't the place. Go to Dock 42 and meet with a batarian named Bray. Sooner this time, rather than later."

Shepard's smile was mischievous as she bowed dramatically, as if addressing royalty. "Right away, ma'am."

Aria shook her head disdainfully and waved Shepard off. As the commander turned to leave, Aria called out to her across the room. "Oh, and Shepard: Bring no one. I want you... alone."

Shepard left for the elevator and pulled up her omnitool to call Garrus over their private, secured channel. She may not be able to bring him along, but she damn sure wasn't about to leave him in the dark. It wasn't long before his face appeared on the digital holograph, and Shepard squinted a moment to see...

"Garrus, are you still on the Normandy?"

"Uh.. yeah. I've been busy, I guess you could say. Doing some extracurricular research. I'm about done though, did you want to see me?" He seemed a little flustered.

"I always do, but that's not why I called. Aria T'Loak wants to meet me about something important. I think it has to do with Cerberus's presence on Omega. I'm getting ready to go find her assistant now."

"I can get my gear ready and meet you there in a few-"

"No Garrus, she asked me to come alone. I'm not even supposed to tell anyone what's going on, but I wasn't about to leave you out of the loop. I'll send you updates when I can, alright?"

He sighed. "Okay, but if you need me for anything, I'll be ready to leave at a moments notice. Just say the word."

She smiled and blew a kiss at him. "I'll keep that in mind. I'll see you soon."

Shepard exited the elevator and made her way to Dock 42, where as promised a batarian was awaiting her presence. "Are you Bray?"

"Ah 'the Great Commander Shepard'. Huh. And me without my autograph book."

"Save the pleasantries. Where's Aria?"

He led her through a series of doors and passageways, eventually coming to a halt at an empty shuttle docking bay. "Wait here."

Several moments later a shuttle floated up from the lower decks, and the door opened. Aria was seated in the back, sitting in her usual relaxed position, her legs crossed and an arm resting along the window. Her eyes were gleaming with tension and excitement, however her demeanor remained calm. "Shepard."

The commander sat next to her as Bray climbed into the front, closed the door and told the pilot to take off. Shepard smiled, "Aria. How dramatic."

"This, coming from the woman who bowed down before me after I made a simple request? Hmm. There are too many eyes and ears all over Purgatory, I'm merely taking necessary measures." A tight smile touched the corner of her lips.

After they had traveled a distance Aria was comfortable with, she explained her reason for summoning the commander: She was ready to take back Omega from Cerberus control. Since they had taken over, their foothold over the galaxy had gained significant strength.

"Once we get in, we'll be relying on ground forces. That's where you come in, Shepard... I accept _only _the best." Aria looked at her fiercely. "When Omega is mine again, I'll give you everything: ships, mercs, eezo, all yours."

Shepard looked at her with a hint of skepticism. "I didn't realize you'd become so generous during your time on the Citadel. There's a catch, isn't there?"

"I have objections to some of the company you keep. So you'll have to leave the Normandy and it's crew behind for this task."

Shepard adjusted herself in the seat and frowned. "My _crew _are professionals."

Aria looked forward, dropping her voice. "Let's just say.. I want you all to myself." She nodded to Bray and seconds later they were lowering the shuttle at the nearest docking port. "Bray will give you coordinates. Be discreet while you're still here."

Shepard and Bray exited the shuttle and after he closed the door, it took off again and disappeared from view. She let out a deep breath- this was going to be a long night.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Hours had gone by after her message came through. _"Helping Aria take back Omega. Time is short, have to leave now while __we have the element of surprise.__ I'll be back shortly, and don't worry – she's one hell of a __powerful __biotic."_

As promised, Garrus had everything on standby in case help was needed, but something deep within told him that Shepard had a handle on this. He kept himself busy with various technical tasks, correlating new data feeds coming in from various war fronts and even fed Shepard's fish.

He seated himself in the dim light of her cabin and read over reports and news feeds until he was too tired to keep himself awake. _How long has she been gone now? _He climbed into her bed and curled up, smothering his face into her pillow while breathing in the ghost of her pleasant smells. He knew she had a pretty damn good reason for going off on her own again, but it didn't mean he had to be happy about it. For now, he just resigned to lay in her bed until she returned.

He fell asleep for several hours and became restless as soon as he awoke. After peeling himself from her cabin, he was relieved to see that most of the crew were still out on the Citadel. With a yawn, he put himself back to work in the Main Battery.

An unmeasured amount of time later, the door opened and a familiar scent filled his senses. He grinned and turned to see her there, tired and sore and smiling softly. He hugged her tight and lifted her off the floor, and though she returned the firm embrace she couldn't help but wince and suck in a breath from pain. "Yep. That hurts too, apparently." She kissed him tenderly and leaned back to look up at his face.

"Damn Shepard, what happened out there?" He loosened his grip to prevent hurting her further.

"Oh, you know. A fight against an entire Cerberus army and some of their more advanced psycho mechs. Oh, and a new breed of reaper creature, straight from the nightmare factory." She laid her body against his. "I was hoping you'd be here.. It's the first place I thought to check when I got back."

He hummed and smoothed her hair, holding her close. "I didn't want to leave the Normandy knowing you'd be back at any moment."

"Hmm. So sweet." She closed her eyes. "I don't supposed you'd mind carrying me to my bed? I'm... I'm pretty spent."

Without a word, he gently lifted her into his arms and carried her to her quarters. After laying her down on the bed, he gingerly removed her armor and pulled the blankets up while kissing her shoulder. She smiled sleepily and stretched, feeling as though she were melting into the softness of the mattress after such a long, stressful fight.

Garrus sat on the edge of the bed, mentally filing away all the questions he had for later. Shepard looked at the stars through the window in her ceiling, lost in her own thoughts when something dawned on her. Her eyes opened wide as she stared off into space.

"She kissed me, Garrus."

He blinked and looked down at her. "I... what?"

"Aria kissed me. After it was all over, she killed the man who had taken her home from her. Then she... walked over and kissed me." She turned to look at Garrus and almost laughed at the expression on his face.

"I.. don't know what to say."

"I know, right? Who knew she had it in her. She's always so cold and distant, then in the heat of the moment, _bam!_ Right on the lips."

Garrus shook his head. "Let's.. talk about this later, shall we?" He settled down next to her and she immediately tucked herself in closer, closing her eyes. He ran his talons through her hair as she fell asleep almost immediately. He involuntarily huffed and furrowed his eyebrow plates as the thought of that little blue tentacle-headed snob kissing _his _girl ran through his mind.

_The nerve of some people, really. _

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A/N: Aria T'Loak 3 Hope you all enjoy. Next one up soon, as usual. -ValkyrieDown


	12. Chapter 12: Another visit to the Citadel

Author's Note: Thank you so much for the reviews and follows!

Mission: Citadel

Garrus awoke long before Shepard did. He stretched and carefully unwrapped himself from her, throwing his legs over the side of the bed while looking down at the sleeping woman. She was out cold, and he laughed quietly when he detected a tiny bit of liquid dribbling from the corner of her mouth. _Humans do the strangest things sometimes... _

He stood and made his way to what was becoming his favorite chair and picked up the nearest mini tablet to look over the latest reports. After scrolling through several articles, Shepard's omnitool started blinking from it's spot on her night stand. He rushed to grab it before it started making any noise and walked just outside of the door to prevent waking the commander up as he answered the incoming message.

The familiar voice of the Normandy's pilot came through: "Shepard, are you there? I haven't seen you in a couple days, and I have something important to tell you."

Garrus popped up the digital screen and observed Joker's face as it contorted with confusion. "Uh.. Garrus, whoa there. I think I called the wrong person."

"No, this is Shepard's omnitool. She's sleeping right now, I figured I'd answer to keep her from waking up."

There was a long pause as Joker put the pieces together. "Wait- so let me get this straight. You're with Shepard right now. In her cabin."

"Yes."

"Aaaaaand I haven't seen either of you two the whole time we've been docked at the Citadel."

"Right."

Joker looked like he might explode. "Garrus, you _stud!_"

"What are you..."

"Those vids must have really done the trick, 'cause damn, you guys have been going at it for forever. As in days.. literally, almost _two days._"

Realization suddenly hit Garrus like a brick wall, and he nearly dropped the omnitool as he flustered and stammered over Joker's laughs and manly compliments.

"No, it's not like that- I mean... we haven't- at least not last night, but we..."

Joker raised his eyebrows skeptically. "You mean to tell me you both have been locked up in there all this time and never once touched each others naughty bits? Because I find that really hard to believe."

"Well, you see... last night was kind of.. well..."

Without warning a hand reached around Garrus and grabbed the omnitool, which cause him to damn near jump out of his skin.

A very sleepy looking Shepard, with mussed up hair and her black lacy underclothes, looked at Joker through the small screen. "Yes Joker, it's true. We've been up for hours on end, going at it non-stop. I'm surprised you didn't hear it down there."

Joker and Garrus simultaneously took on an expression of absolute horror.

Shepard kept a steady gaze and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "So was there something you needed?"

For once, Joker was the one to stutter and trip on his own words. He put his thoughts together quickly, wanting nothing more than to end this call and forget it ever happened. "The asari councilor wants to speak to you right away. In person... at, uh, Udina's office. Er, used to be his office. That's all."

"Thank you joker." She said sweetly, smiling while disconnecting the call. As soon as the screen closed, she burst out into a fit of gleeful laughter. "He's so nosy, it's about time karma bit him in the ass! Did you see the look on his face?"

She turned to look at the turian, whose face still hadn't recovered either- he just looked at her wordlessly and blinked. She grinned like a Cheshire cat and tried desperately to stifle her giggling, which wasn't helping him at all. She hugged him tightly and buried her face in his chest to hide her grin. "I'm sorry Garrus, I couldn't help myself. The opportunity was just too perfect to pass up."

He wrapped his arms around her and relaxed, pressing his cheek against her head. "Yeah yeah, laugh it up at my expense. I see why you keep a shy, apprehensive turian like me around."

"Hah! There's nothing shy about you, Garrus Vakarian. You've proven that to me over and over again."

He leaned back and looked at her face, which still had that fresh-out-of-bed glow. "Are you ever going to tell him?"

"What? Well, maybe. I supposed news about Omega will travel fast, and he'll figure it out eventually."

Garrus took a step forward, pressing her gently against the wall outside of her cabin and wiggled his eyebrow plates seductively. "Soo.. about this alleged all-nighter we supposedly had. Think you're ready for round two? You know, before you have to answer to the councilor..."

She smiled and pulled him down into a deep kiss. "The councilor can wait just a little longer."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

After Shepard had disconnected the call, Joker felt as though he needed to take a shower. Extra cold, for at least an hour or two. Nothing in the galaxy could have prepared him for _that..._

Edi looked at him and smiled brightly from across the table in the lounge of the Afterlife nightclub. "Jeff, it doesn't appear as though you enjoyed that."

"Yeah, no kidding Edi. I feel like I need to wash my brain out. Or just remove it all together. She can't believe I didn't _hear_ it? What the hell were they- ugh. Never mind, don't wanna know."

"I personally found it to be quite humorous."

He shook his head and rubbed his temple. "Well I'm glad at least one of us is enjoying my embarrassment."

"You must admit, it is not often when someone, as you would say 'pulls a fast one' on you."

He looked up and studied her for moment, "Pulled a fast one, what are you talking about?"

"Shepard and Garrus were not engaged in sexual intercourse during the last two nights. Shepard was on a time sensitive mission with Aria T'Loak, in which they regained control over Omega. She had just returned late last evening, and had been asleep since. I believe she was- 'giving you a hard time' about prying into her personal relationship with Garrus."

Joker slumped in his chair and stared at the table. After several moments of silent thought he finally cracked a smile. "Well shit, she got me. You win this one, Shepard."

Edi sat forward and leaned elegantly on the table, still smiling as Joker realized something. He leaned on the table as well, getting closer to her while speaking in a lower tone.

"So, wait a second.. You're aware of what Shepard's doing in her room at all times? You can watch when she and Garrus... you know."

"That is not entirely accurate. My life support and sensory processors are constantly aware of what happens in every space on the Normandy to optimize damage control should anything happen. However, certain systems can be temporarily 'turned off' for privacy. Shepard typically asks for this, when needed."

"Huh. That was about to be creepy."

"I do not make it customary to monitor people during their most intimate moments." She looked at him, long and hard.

"Yeah yeah. Must be nice up on that high horse."

"I do not need a horse, Jeff. The Normandy suits me just fine." She smiled.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Shepard and Garrus were basking in each others satisfaction while sprawled out on her bed, smiling at each other as their heart rates slowed to their more natural paces.

"That's not exactly motivation to get out of bed." She stretched, her aching muscles yearning to stay in the comfort of her blankets.

Garrus rolled onto an elbow and propped himself over her, tracing her jawline delicately. "That's okay, I have the perfect solution to that."

"Hmm, and what pray tell is that?" She kissed each of his fingertips.

His mandibles twitched very slightly as he smiled, "Would you like to join me for a cup of coffee?"

She grinned widely up at him as his eyes sparkled. "I haven't had real coffee in ages. I'd love that, Garrus."

He helped her to her feet, and as they began to dress she looked at him over her shoulder with a smile. "By the way, you know you're supposed to invite me to coffee _before _we sleep together, right? That's kind of an old human tradition to express their interest in physical interaction."

"Yeah, I was aware of that... didn't really have time to make that offer before, though- you were a little _eager _to get started."

"Hah!"

They made their way to the elevator after donning their civilian attire, and as the doors opened they exited in stride with Garrus's arm around her shoulder and her arm around his waist. Edi and Joker were just returning to the Normandy as they crossed the docking bridge, where Shepard and her ship's pilot locked eyes and glared each other down until they had passed out of sight. Garrus stared straight ahead and pretended to be invisible, still feeling rather embarrassed about what happened earlier.

They continued to hold onto one another as they walked around the Citadel, turning heads as they talked and laughed and teased, clearly in their own little universe. Some people recognized the couple from several years ago when the commander had first formed her team to hunt down the rogue SPECTRE named Saren, some knew them from the vids that followed. Some still only recognized them from their recent multitude of visits to the Citadel, but no matter the case it was clear to anyone that they had something unique together. There was a history between them, a kinship forged through trial and combat, laughter and pain.

Those that knew them well enough were aware of their history, which started out first as allies and then friends and confidants. Now they were clearly lovers, building themselves a private world in the middle of a horrific war that threatened their very way of life. People of the older generation frowned at their inter-species romance and some smiled at the happiness they had found, knowing theirs was a hard path to follow. They were on the front lines at all times, and if they had found just one more reason to push forward and live another day, then damn it all: good for them.

They were also responsible for putting an officer through a high speed chase when they were caught red handed doing something they weren't supposed to in a restricted area. Captain Bailey walked up behind the couple and cleared his throat loudly to get their attention.

They turned to look at the man, a look of surprise glazing over their expressions. "Bailey! I didn't expect to see you here..." Shepard said, coolly.

"Yeah Shepard, it's been a while, hasn't it? I couldn't help but notice how quickly you'd walk by my office without coming in to say 'hi' like you used to." He smiled, but his eyes said 'I've got you now'.

They let go of each other and turned to face him, Garrus pulled on his cowl and Shepard rubbed the back of her neck. "Yeah, about that... I've been pretty busy lately."

"Uh huh, right." Bailey crossed his arms and continued to smile coyly. "I've been busy too, filing reports and putting out warrants to find a particular couple who gave one of my officers a hard time. Got caught in a place they shouldn't have been, didn't comply to his requests, then _ran- _can you believe that? Put him on a wild goose chase."

Garrus coughed and Shepard smiled sheepishly. "That's pretty awful. I take it they weren't... caught?"

Bailey shook his head, "Hmm. Nope. Gave my officer the slip, and he's been determined to find them ever since." His smile grew as he paused to gaze evenly at the pair. "He swears he recognized who they were, too. A couple of military goons that've had their faces plastered all over the news feeds and recruitment posters lately."

Shepard furrowed her brow and frowned. "_Goons-_"

"A human female and a turian. Kind of easy to distinguish since there still aren't many of those kinds of couples around these days."

Shepard looked down at her feet. "I... don't supposed we could get a freebie? You know, considering the craziness we've been through lately."

Bailey grinned wide and clapped her hardily on the shoulder. "Ah hell, commander, you saved my ass recently during that coup attempt. As far as I'm concerned, your little incident never happened. Consider it buried."

Garrus and Shepard both visibly relaxed with relief, but Bailey's expression suddenly turned serious. "Just.. do me a favor and keep your junk in your pants until you get somewhere a little more discreet next time. I'm sure a hotel room would be more comfortable, anyway- and with the things you're doing for the galaxy, I doubt any hotel would turn down a chance for _you _to let it all hang out in their suites."

Shepard's cheeks were suddenly heating up as she looked at the captain and nodded. "Yes sir."

Bailey grinned again stood a little straighter. "Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some more hand holding to do. Keep up the good work out there, I'm rooting for you both." He laid a hardy smack on Garrus's shoulder, turned and was gone from view in just a few, long strides.

Garrus let out another deep breath and looked down at the commander, who was- "Well well, what have we got here? Shepard, I believe you're _blushing._"

She scrunched her face and looked at him. He only grinned and took her by the shoulders, kissing both of her cheeks. "You're so adorable when you do that." Then he took her hand and led her in the direction of the cafe he had spotted a few weeks ago on their last visit.

When they found the place he was looking for, they sat themselves by a scenic window overlooking the Presidium and simply enjoyed each others company while Shepard delighted over 'the best cup of coffee on the Citadel'. She almost felt guilty for making the asari councilor wait so long, but something Garrus had told her some time ago was ringing in her memory. _We should never forget to take these moments when we can._

She took a sip and gazed out the window in a moment of deep thought. _You never know when shit's going to hit the fan again._

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A/N: Thank you again, sincerely, to those who've left reviews, followed or saved, or even just plain read this thing. I appreciate your time, and I hope that you continue to enjoy this story! Next one up soon... -ValkyrieDown


	13. Chapter 13: Thessia

Author's Note: Hello dear readers, I know I took longer than usual to get this up... school has been very busy, and my career is about to relocate me from one side of the United States aaaaalllll the way over to the furthest, opposite side from where I live. (Quite literally, I live by the beach on the east coast and in a couple months will be re-rooted in Hawaii. Not a bad trade off, though...) Anyway, this is the chapter that started it all. After playing this level in the game, I scribbled down an idea of how Shepard and Garrus would interact after the fall of Thessia. I knew I couldn't just upload one little blurb, so here we are with a fully evolved story. Thanks for reading.

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Priority: Thessia

The asari councilor hung up before Shepard's apology left her lips. The mission had failed. It was her first failure since becoming a SPECTRE, and it wasn't just any routine recon or drop, collect and get the hell out operation- it was _the _mission. The one that would put Cerberus on their asses, the one that would give the alliance the last part of the Crucible puzzle, that would end the reapers and subsequently put an end to the war. The asari commando squad on Thessia had sacrificed their lives _for nothing. _Everyone in the galaxy that gave theirs lives for her mission were_ for nothing_ if she couldn't find a way to get her hands around Kai Leng's throat and take back the Prothean VI and its valuable secrets.

All this and more frenetically crowded her mind as she made her way to the War Room to plan their next move. She took her place by the holographic map with her crew, her lips in a tight line and her posture rigid. Her aura was purely acidic with anger, grievance and disappointment, and almost everyone avoided making eye contact, afraid that her searing gaze would manifest and singe them on contact.

However, the handful that knew her best- her friends- made it a point to look at her directly when they spoke, showing her they were just as outraged and unwilling to back down as she was.

Traynor was somewhere in between- She looked nervously at the commander and struggled to develop her words, but Shepard waited patient and silent for her to speak. "I, um... I was able to track Kai Leng's shuttle through the relay and extrapolate his destination. But the signal disappeared somewhere around here..." She pulled up the digital galaxy map and with a data pad and stylus drew the shuttle's course through the relays, which translated to the larger map for everyone to see. She circled one particular star system. "...the Iera system."

Shepard leaned on the railing and furrowed her eyebrows, trying to recall any information about the system. "That's where Horizon is located, isn't it?" She shook her head, "Why does nothing good ever come from that place? And the signal is just gone... How typical of them to run and hide like a pack of cowards."

"It's not just gone though, commander." Traynor continued with more confidence. "The signal is being actively blocked. I don't know how, but something is definitely interfering with all signal activity in a very small area in that region of space."

Edi was quick to contribute, explaining the existence of a facility called Sanctuary whose sole purpose was aiding and sheltering war refugees. They discussed and agreed that this was the most logical lead to follow, but Shepard's attention was waning quickly. "We'll go. I want that Prothean data. I want the Catalyst. No excuses." She pushed herself from the map and walked promptly toward the exit, only pausing to say, "dismissed."

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Shepard departed Liara's room only after she was sure her friend was stabilized. She knew personally that it would take a great deal more than hugs and a dozen consoling words to ease her inner suffering, but it would have to be enough for the time being. Shepard had held her until the tears stopped flowing, promised her retribution for her people and offered a way to keep Liara occupied to prevent her from driving herself mad with grief.

"I don't know how you do it, Shepard." Liara sniffed, her eyes still rimmed with pink. "Even when I saw you after the invasion on Earth, when it was your own people... dying. You were so calm and strong." She forced a diminutive smile.

Shepard leaned empathetically against Liara's side. "That's because I know we'll make it through this. The reapers will not take this cycle, we will stop them." The commander smiled encouragingly, secretly wishing she could believe it for herself.

After the door closed behind her she trained her eyes on the deck and headed for the elevator. She stopped at the CIC and checked the galaxy map to ensure their destination to Iera was already in place, then entertained the idea of making rounds to check on the crew. Her mind was cloudy as she stared at the slowly spinning digital image of the solar system for an unmarked period of time, only diverting her eyes when a blinking green light on her terminal seized her attention.

Given her current state of mind, she opted to take the message in the privacy of her cabin. She pressed the button to go up and leaned her weight into her hands against the elevator wall, hanging her head with fatigue and so many other pent up emotions. The door slid open silently and she made her way into the cabin, immediately turning down the bubbly electro music to a barely audible hum. She wasn't in the mood for bubbly.

Without sitting, she entered her password in the terminal on her desk and solemnly glanced at her collection of model ships while waiting for the messages to load. There was only one, and the title immediately made her heart sink: Evacuating Thessia - Asari Military Command. As much as she hoped that it enclosed word of their success at pushing back the reapers, deep down she knew the odds of such a thing were nearly nonexistent- and at the moment she wasn't sure if she was ready to face even more news of the devastation left in the wake of her failure on Thessia.

Taking a deep breath and steeling herself, she clicked and opened the message. It didn't take long for her to realize it was actually from Kai Leng, gloating at his success in defeating her in the Asari Temple that he had left in complete ruin. She was seeing red by the time she reached the end and blindly picked up the terminal, flinging it with a furious cry. Her fish darted with terror in every direction when the terminal smacked into the base of their aquarium.

Shepard's jaw tightened, holding back tears of rage as she walked over to the tank. "Sorry, guys." she spoke softly as she ran her fingers across the glass. She turned and leaned her back against the cool blue surface and slid down to a sitting position. She barely heard the door open several minutes later, lost in her thoughts.

"Shepard." Her reverie was broken. She looked up to find the concerned blue eyes of her oldest, most trusted companion and dearest friend. His vocal harmonics dropped to a lower, softer tone as he approached her. "Traynor said you might need some company... After you left the CIC in such a manner that even a horde of Brutes wouldn't dare stand in your way." Garrus took a seat on the floor next to her, studying her face.

She smiled faintly, "You could say that." There was pain in her voice, and her eyes glistened with unshed tears. _She was so damn strong. _He thought as he held an arm out, inviting her into shelter against his side. She complied gratefully, sliding in close while laying a weary head on his shoulder. He leaned into her gently and stroked her hair, a habit of affection that even he now found oddly soothing. He had really grown fond of the alien softness of her hair and the soft scent it emitted whenever he touched it.

They sat in silence for a while. He had already given her his piece of mind on the shuttle ride back to the Normandy after the mission, and he didn't want to keep pushing the subject. For now he just wanted to help hold her together until she was ready to push forward again.

She breathed in deeply and he turned his head to rest it on top of hers, savoring that lovely feeling of her hair on the underside of his jaw. It was then that he noticed the terminal, cracked and blinking on the floor. A low laugh escaped his throat, "Heh.. When I said to focus all your anger and frustration and let it loose on your enemies, I didn't mean the poor defenseless electronics in your cabin."

Shepard smiled genuinely for the first time that day. "Believe me, it had it coming." She sighed deeply and waited a moment before continuing, collecting her thoughts. "It was Kai Leng. He sent me a pleasant message to congratulate me on my glorious defeat."

"Don't worry Shepard. We'll find the bastard." He lowered his head and lifted her chin with his finger to look her in the eyes. "And when we do, we'll feed him his own sword, sideways."

She gazed it him evenly, unsmiling. "Maybe I'll just put a bullet between his eyes."

Garrus's mandibles fluttered slightly. "Or we could just throw more electronics at him."

The corners of her lips turned upwards. "All three of those. In that order. I like it."

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If anything was certain, Shepard's determination to find Kai Leng and the Prothean data was now a force to be reckoned with. Whether it be through brute strength, cunning or sheer force of will, she would stop at _nothing _to get what she needed. She and her crew, and all the people working toward the survival of their existence hadn't worked so hard and for so long to stop now. She wouldn't let those countless sacrifices end in vain- the figures of ash and the voices that haunted her dreams would be avenged.

When they reached Iera, she asked Liara to join her on the ground team to give her something to concentrate her anger on. As they explored the facility and uncovered more of the dark secrets being kept at Sanctuary, Shepard was pushing forward and fighting with a tenacity that was unlike her. They had just cleared a large open room full of a frightening variety of reaper creatures, and Shepard alone had pushed forward with furious momentum. At one point, Garrus pulled her aside to voice his observation.

She responded bitingly at first, pointing out the horrific atrocities Cerberus was committing even as the reaper forces were closing in. She pointed at a nearby console that detailed their agenda to experiment on the people who were arriving under the guise of being protected.

"These people are being turned into husks. How many have been lured here? Hundreds? _Thousands?_ I'm trying like hell to save humanity while Cerberus just takes them right out from under my feet."

Garrus looked at her with calm patience, letting her take a breath and finish before offering his thoughts. Her voice calmed and fell to a lower tone. "We're dying, Garrus. The reapers are annihilating us- human, turian, asari- we're all on their bucket list. Why the _fuck_ is Cerberus helping them thin our numbers?"

Garrus's heart sank at her words. In the years he'd know her, even behind closed doors, she never cursed like that. He stepped closer to her and touched his forehead to hers. "Shepard, we _will _put an end to this. This place is just another abomination, one of many that we've already put an end to. Let's not worry about the 'why' right now... Let's focus on shutting it down so they can't hurt anybody anymore. One thing at a time."

She stared at his face for a moment and let the words sink in. He watched her expression soften as she reached up and traced her finger along his jawline and mandible, then nodded and spoke in a more relaxed tone, "Thank you Garrus. We're just.. getting so close to the end, and the closer we get the nastier things seem to really be."

He touched her arm lovingly, "There's a saying your people have about that, you know: 'It's always darkest before the dawn.' Daylight will be rising for us soon, Shepard, and when it does we'll be on a beach somewhere drinking something colorful that comes with those little paper umbrellas." He made a face and looked off into the distance. "Never really understood the concept of those things, to be honest."

Shepard allowed herself to grin, unable to remain angry or unfocused around him no matter how dire the situation. He grounded her between reality and responsibility just enough to make the ugly side of life more bearable. She felt free to be herself again and relaxed, silently tucking away the inner commander that urged her to act brashly. "That's just one of many strange human customs I'll get you acquainted with, Garrus."

"Heh. Just wait til I show you some turian customs. You may very well reconsider the terms of our relationship."

"If you're talking about luring me into the bonds of matrimony, I'd say lets at least wait until we're at a more romantic setting. A decrepit, reaper infested, shadow operations base for Cerberus just really doesn't do it for me."

Garrus choked and twitched his mandibles in surprised at the suggestion, and Shepard burst out laughing. He stammered immediately, "I uh... wasn't exactly... um.."

She patted him on the arm and grinned. "Come on. Let's get what we came for and blow this place to hell."

"Right." Garrus reclaimed his form and walked forward, sniper rifle at the ready. Shepard fell in step behind him and nearly ran into his back when he stopped abruptly.

"You know, you're right Shepard. A Cerberus facility really isn't the place. Perhaps a thresher maw nest... or right after cleaning out a geth infested superstructure... or maybe while fighting mutant rachni by torchlight in their dark tunnels. Those would be ideal places to propose to _you, _I think"

She blinked and felt her cheeks burn instantly. Garrus, who was still stopped and facing forward, turned his head to peer back at her with a mischievous turian smile. This particular brand of humor was not typical coming from him, so the commander was taken completely off guard.

Shepard, suddenly flustered and speechless, walked around him briskly and marched forward at a frighteningly quick pace. "Well we should probably get moving, there's still a lot of ground to cover and..." Her sentence trailed off into silence as Garrus followed, grinning victoriously.

He readied his rifle again, training his sights on possible threats around them. Shepard had relaxed significantly since they first landed, which is exactly what he wanted. Even if it meant ruffling her feathers a little and putting himself on the spot.

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A/N: Someday I may scribble a short comic of Shep and Garrus force-feeding Kai Leng his sword (sideways), shooting him between the eyes, then chucking random electronic items at his dead body. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy. -ValkyrieDown


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